


Faded

by tenacioussurrender



Series: A Ripple in Time and Space [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Canon-Typical Violence, Dad Diego, Except a Lil Five/Dolores, Gen, Good Sibling Diego Hargreeves, Hurt Number Five | The Boy, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Number Five | The Boy, Luther Hargreeves Being an Asshole, No Incest, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Whump, Number Five | The Boy-centric, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Soft Diego Hargreeves, he does get better tho, no relationships - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 11:02:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 34,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25968586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tenacioussurrender/pseuds/tenacioussurrender
Summary: (originally called The Disappearing Act of Number Five)He runs and he runs and he runs...until he lands himself in an apocalyptic future. After a year of struggling through the worst of times, Five finds a way home. He'd planned for all the ways it could go wrong. He could end up going too far back, end up disappearing from the fabric of time completely. But instead, and somehow worse, he finds himself stuck in 2019 with siblings that don't recognize him.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy)
Series: A Ripple in Time and Space [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904056
Comments: 287
Kudos: 732





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing well during these crazy times. I’m excited to introduce a new fic! As a warning this fic will contain some dark and serious topics. If I feel anything may be especially triggering I will try to do my best to place a warning here. 
> 
> Warning: Panic Attack
> 
> I don't have a beta so I apologize for any mistakes you may discover. My grammar is purposeful though, it's just the way I write! :)

Five has had a rough year, to put it mildly. Extremely mildly. It started off wonderfully with him accidentally getting stuck in an apocalyptic future with his family’s corpses. The months after were right in that sweet spot of not as bad as seeing your family’s corpses but still pretty damn bad. He had to scrounge for any surviving food and water which went from okay when he found a rare intact can of baked beans to awful when he ate some old Twinkies and spent the next week throwing up Twinkie remnants along with likely cockroach remnants which was enough to make him barf just to barf. The end of the year followed suit by him accidentally sending himself to the wrong year. _Accidentally. That’s the word of the year._ He thinks as he tosses the newspaper back in the trash. _March 21st 2019. Probably mid to late afternoon with how low the sun is sitting in the sky. Less than nine days before the apocalypse._ Five huffs angrily. He had planned to return the same day he had left in 2002 and give himself the most time possible to figure out what caused the apocalypse and how to fix it. Now the end of the world is a mere nine days away and he’s been gone from his siblings for 17 years. His eyes begin to tear up at the thought of how horrid of a year it’s been. He roughly wipes his eyes with his sleeve. _Now’s not the time._ Although he realizes, there may never be the time. He’d been telling himself it wasn’t the time for the past year and frankly he’d be okay with it never being the time. He’s got things to do. A lot of them. But right now, he needs a coffee. 

The walk to Griddy’s has his head spinning with exhaustion. His jump to the past had strained his abilities to a point he hadn’t quite felt before. The only thing in his head now was coffee. His siblings could wait another thirty minutes. _His siblings._ He blinks at the thought, hesitating at the door of the donut shop. He has the urge to turn and run to the Umbrella Academy but forces himself through the door. If he’s going to be able to explain everything to his family without exploding he’s going to need some serious caffeine running through his veins. He’s almost finished guzzling his coffee and eating his plate of donuts as the older gentleman he had been sitting next to gets up to leave. Five sighs, realizing he needs to get to work. As soon as he stands from his chair, the door opens. He finds himself frozen at the sight of men in black suits entering the door with guns pointed directly at him. He turns to look at the older lady that had been behind the counter, but she’s gone. He gulps as he turns to face the group of people now infiltrating the shop.

“May I ask you gentlemen what could have possibly prompted this?” Five asks, folding his arms across his chest and straightening himself in a fake display of confidence.

“The Handler would like to speak with you, kid.” One of the men answers, shifting closer to where Five is standing.

“Who the hell is ‘The Handler’?” Five questions, tapping his foot on the ground. They’re wasting the precious time he has to prevent whatever is going to happen.

“Someone who’s not happy about your interference.” Another goon responds.

“My interference?” Five drops his arms to his side, confusion painted on his face.

“The apocalypse.” 

The answer is simple. Yet it shakes him to the core. Someone else mentioning the apocalypse out loud feels like an ice shower. It makes it all the more true. He drops his face from panic to a blank slate. He looks around himself, he’s clearly surrounded. But these guys don’t know him or what he’s capable of. He smirks at the thought. He jumps to the top of the other end of the counter. The group of men all descend into a chorus of “what the hell”’s. They quickly regain their composure and begin to shoot at Five who immediately jumps again behind one of the goons. Said goon is immediately shot to death in the crossfire by his comrades who obviously don’t give two shits about him. Five uses this to his advantage, forcing all of the group to kill themselves in the idiocy. He finishes the last man off with a slice of Diego’s knife. He’s killed once before, in the wake of the apocalypse. That doesn’t stop his hands from shaking and his stomach clenching from the stench of blood.

He jumps out of the store, his breathing sharp and his body trembling. Its dark outside but thankfully he has the way back home memorized from the many times he and his siblings snuck out to gorge themselves on donuts. Yet, as his vision darkens he finds himself taking a detour to a familiar department store. He has to see her. He has to know that she’s okay.

Jumping into Gimbles, Five stumbles to a shelf where he takes a flashlight out of its package and turns it on. He walks through the store quickly, tears pricking his eyes. 

_I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe._

His eyes land on her and he gulps. A smile grows on his pale, sweaty face. 

“Dolores,” He whispers, hands falling to rest on his knees as he attempts to get more air into his lungs.

 _Breathe Five._ She says softly, lovingly, fondly.

“You remember me?” He asks through panicked breaths.

_Of course I do, darling. Now hush up and take deep breaths for me._

He listens, slowing his breath for her. She was truly the only reason he survived, he’d do anything for her. 

“I think killing is a trigger for me,” He laughs, breathing less erratically.

“You remember that guy-”

 _Five._ She says cutting him off. Her voice is serious, even more serious than usual which is saying a lot.

_You shouldn’t think about stuff like that._

“I know,” He waves her off, standing up from his crouch. 

He wipes the sweat from his brow and aims a strained smile up at her.

 _You’re a mess._ She says, but the smile in her voice reminds him of the fondness that he loves her for. 

“But I’m your mess,” He softly replies, reaching his hand up to touch hers. 

Before their hands can meet, shots ring out through the darkness piercing through Dolores and nearly through himself.

“No!” He yells, ripping himself away from her to hide behind a shelf.

He hears footsteps and whispers, “I’ll be back for you,” as he jumps further away.

“They said he was special,” Five hears a masculine voice say.

Gunshots follow him as he jumps throughout the store. 

He finds a duffel bag after one of those jumps and then finds himself back with Dolores at another. He quickly hugs her before placing her as gently as possible into the bag. The footsteps have found him again. He curses and attempts to jump. The blue refuses to encase him and he finds himself having to run instead. He hears police sirens in the distance as a bullet grazes his arm. He yelps, physically jumping over a shelf. He disappears under clothes racks and runs through them until he finds a desk. He hides himself under it. 

“Shit, he’s jumped again,” A feminine voice huffs.

Five tightly closes his eyes as panic grips him again. Sweat rolls down his face intermingling with the tears he can’t keep from falling. His hand is inside the duffel bag, grasping Dolores to remind himself she’s still here and with him. He’s breathing so hard he doesn’t even hear the police enter the building. He’s brought back to the present with the harsh light of a flashlight blinding him.

“Shit, sorry kid,” He hears a familiar voice say. 

“I’m Detective Hargreeves. What’s your name? Are you hurt?”

“Diego?!” Five yelps in response.

“Do I know you?” Diego asks, face marked with confusion rather than maliciousness that Five would have much rather preferred.


	2. Chapter 2

“And here I thought your pea sized brain would at least remember what I look like,” Five smirks playfully.

“I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about, kid.” Diego’s face is blank, but his eyes are sharp.

“Fuck. It’s me, Five,” he says, gesturing to himself.

“Your brother? The one who’s been missing for seventeen years? Ring any bells?” Five is still on the ground behind the desk, but with each word he shifts forward closer to Diego’s face as if that will help his brother remember him.

“I don’t-” Diego starts but his face quickly transforms to one of annoyance.

“Ah, you’re a fanboy.” Diego is barely able to hide his irritation as he shakes his head.

He bends down holding his hand out to help the boy up. Five smacks his hand away and stomps the ground in anger. Frustration brings tears to his eyes. He feels himself about to give in to a temper tantrum. Looking down at Dolores, he takes a deep breathe instead.

“Hey, I’m sorry kid. I’m not trying to upset you. Let’s just get you to the station so we can call your parents and have them come get you.” 

Tears roll down Five’s face as he pushes himself up from the ground. 

“My _parents_ are Reginald Hargreeves and a robot.” Despite the tears, Five stares up at Diego with a fire in his eyes. 

“Did you hit your head?” Diego uses his flashlight to check the boy’s head for any obvious signs of injury.

“If anyone has a head injury it's you,” Five huffs, fixing the duffel bag onto his shoulder.

The other police officers that had been scanning the department store seem to be finishing up. Five realizes how complicated things are going to get if Diego hands him off to someone else or if he gets taken to the station.

“Can you be useful and call a smarter sibling? Vanya, maybe? I’m sure she wouldn’t forget her own brother.” 

“I don’t know that Vanya is smarter,” Diego snorts, placing a hand on one of Five’s small shoulders.

 _I’m gonna have to stitch that._ The fourteen year old thinks as the pain from the wound on his arm radiates. 

“The least you can do is take me to the Umbrella Academy so I can prove to you that I’m your long lost brother.” Five starts to move to head out of the store, brushing Diego’s arm off of his shoulder.

“Wait, wait, that is not protocol.” 

“Something tells me you’re not one to follow protocol, Diego.” 

The detective can’t disagree with that statement. He shrugs his shoulders and follows the boy out of the building. 

“What the hell is going on here?” A woman asks from behind them.

Diego freezes.

“Patch. I was just about to question him,” Diego defends turning around to face the police officer.

“Really? Because it looks to me like a vigilante taking my only witness from an active crime scene.”

Officer Patch folds her arms across her chest. 

“Eudora-” 

“Don’t call me that.”

Diego steps forward away from Five and whispers, “He thinks he’s my brother.”

“You’re not a cop anymore, Diego.” Patch reminds him with a sigh.

_Diego’s life has really gone downhill._

Five considers just jumping out of this mess. He doesn’t have time to waste. But then he remembers he’s all out of juice. He audibly sighs as loudly and as exaggerated as possible.

“Can we get this over with please? What do you want to know?” He asks, regarding the woman standing before him.

“I want to know what the hell happened here.”

“All I know is I heard some noises in here so I went to check it out and I almost got my head blown off. I ran away and hid behind a desk. You showed up. The end.” Five waves his arms theatrically.

“And Griddy’s? Do you know anything about that?” The officer pulls out a pad of paper and jots down some notes.

“No, what happened at Griddy’s?” Feigned ignorance rarely works in his favor, but he’s perfected his innocent face and Patch falls for it easily.

“Okay. And what’s in the bag?”

Five’s heart races and he tightens his grip on the bag.

“N-nothing.”

“Mhmm. Open it up.”

Five gently maneuvers the bag into a bridal carry and slowly unzips it. Diego nosily looks into the bag until Patch pushes him out of the way.

“Is this yours?” She asks with a parental tone that irritates Five to the core.

“Yes.” He growls.

“To me it looks like a Gimble’s mannequin.” She says, eyebrow quirked.

“She belongs to no one.”

A manager arrives on the scene before either Patch or Diego can respond. Five hugs Dolores tighter to his chest.

“What’s going on?” The man questions, his eyes on Five.

“Sir, this appears to have been a break-in. Unfortunately a shoot out as well resulting in a large amount of destroyed merchandise.”

“What’s going on here?” He asks, motioning to the boy clutching a mannequin in his arms.

“It’s stolen property.” The officer states reaching for the duffel.

“It looks like a broken beyond repair mannequin. Let him have it.” The man shrugs. Five lets out a deep breathe.

Five suddenly has a deeper respect for this man than any other human being on the face of the Earth. 

Patch grimaces in embarrassment as she waves Five off. She turns to Diego who's quietly watching the scene unfold.

“Can you finish this up so I can-” She gestures to the store manager.

Diego holds back a snarky “Thought I wasn’t a police officer” response and simply nods.

Officer Patch and the manager walk back into Gimbles.

“Alright kid, how about you tell me your real address so I can take you home?”

“How about you stop calling me kid? I’m the same age as you… technically.” He may be fudging the truth a little but whatever. _Not like Diego is smart enough to understand time travel._

“Yeah...I’m going to just ignore that. I don't know why you want to go to the academy so bad. You know as soon as you enter the house, my old man is just going to throw you back out.”

“Eh, he’d probably do that irregardless.”

Diego considers this and nods slightly to himself.

“You’ve got a point there.” The man concedes.

“Although, if you know how sucky he is, why would you want to be a part of the family?” Diego remembers how often he used to wish he wasn't a part of the family.

“It’s not about want, Diego. Nobody wants to be a part of a toxic family like ours. But I am and I spent a year killing myself trying to find a way back to you guys. Not dad, I couldn’t give two shits about him. But if anyone knows what's going on, it’d be him.”

Diego nods along trying to act understanding but the more this kid acted like he knew their family the more uncomfortable and angry he became.

“Sure kid.”

They’re on the stairs of the academy when Five suddenly seems to be reconsidering. He gulps loudly, fingers white where they grip the bag over his shoulder.

“What’s wrong? Cold feet?” Diego teases.

“The last time I was here, you were all dead.” 

Diego finds himself gulping at that. He knocks on the door. He can hear the clock chiming from inside. He checks his watch. 8 pm. There was no doubt in his mind that his dad was still up sitting in his office ignoring the rest of the world. 

The door opens. Both Diego and Five jump at being pulled from their thoughts.

“Mom!” They both say excitedly. 

Diego looks over at Five, narrowing his eyes as he does so. He hugs Grace tightly as she moves to allow them both into the house.

“How are you Mom?” Diego asks as he releases her from the hug.

“I’m doing well. How are you Diego dear?” She ignores Five's presence as she walks deeper into the house.

“Your father will be happy to see you,” She continues, not waiting for Diego’s response.

Five rolls his eyes at the clearly false statement as he questions, “Where is the old man?”

“I believe your father said he was going to bed,” She responds staring at Diego as if he had asked the question.

“This early? Is he sick?”

Grace doesn’t respond, heading up the stairs to her charging station.

Five arches his eyebrows looking up at Diego with concern. The look is mirrored back at him.

Five follows Diego as he leads him up to their father’s bedroom. They stop in front of the ajar door.

“Uh, Dad?” Diego calls into the room. 

At no response, he calls louder. 

Diego’s body is rigid and on high alert as he slowly opens the door wider. He’s greeted with his father’s body lying on his bed, still and not breathing. He doesn’t have the chance to hide Five from view.

“God, I guess that’s why I never saw Dad’s body,” Five mumbles.

“Shut the fuck up!” Diego shouts, jarring the boy from his thoughts.

He yells at Five to call an ambulance as he jumps on the bed and starts chest compressions.

Five jumps to the phone, numb as he talks into the receiver. He can hear Diego shouting numbers with each compression. Five wishes he loved his dad enough or that his dad loved him enough for him to feel sad. But he doesn’t. He feels terrified instead. He’s now stuck with a brother who doesn’t remember him with no way of convincing him that he’s real. If anyone would have understood the situation, it would have been his father. He has less than nine days to convince his brother and possibly the rest of his siblings that he’s their family and to figure out what causes the apocalypse and how to fix it. That’s the last thought he has before he passes out. The phone clangs against the wall as he drops it and his head bangs loudly as it hits the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your sweet comments and kudos, I appreciate every single one of you more than you know!!

Five wakes with bleary eyes and a head that feels full of cotton balls. He reaches up to gingerly touch his swollen head. The pain has him clenching his fists and grinding his teeth. This headache is one of the worst he’s ever had, even worse than that time he couldn’t find water for three days straight in the wasteland. He slowly sits up, reminding himself of the other ache he feels. Looking down he finds his uniform jacket missing and his arm bandaged up. He peels the band-aid back to discover his arm has been stitched while he was out. 

_Thank god not all of my siblings are incompetent._ He thinks and then realizes Grace was probably the one to help him rather than one of his idiotic siblings. 

_Wait where is-_ His heart rate rises in panic as he sits up in the bed to hurriedly look around the room. He relaxes when he finds Dolores sitting on a chair in the corner.

_I’m here, idiot. Did you really think I would have left you in this condition? You obviously haven’t been thinking clearly enough lately to be left to your own devices._

Five shrugs at that as he reaches over to pick up the glass on his nightstand. He guzzles the water like he's back in the end of times. 

“You know what’s funny, Dolores? This is my room.” His face doesn’t look like one that finds humor in the situation, however. 

He startles at a knock on the door. Diego.

“Hi, uh I brought you a sandwich. I figured you’d probably be hungry, seeing as you slept oh-” Diego checks his watch, continuing with, “20 hours, give or take.”

Five’s eyes widen as he shouts, “20 hours?! Holy shit.”

He moves to get out of bed but Diego pushes him back.

“Hey, hold on. You obviously needed it. I mean that was a nasty fall and graze.” Diego motions to the bandaged arm.

“Were you ever going to tell me you got hurt?”

“Would it have mattered?” Five asks, giving up on straining against his brother.

“Yes, it would have.” 

Diego sighs and unlike the child version of himself he doesn't push any further.

“Here,” Diego says, handing the plate over to the boy.

“Thanks,” Five mumbles, immediately taking a bite.

His brows furrow at the taste.

“Peanut butter and marshmallows?”

He swallows the hope building up in his chest.

“Yeah, I figured you’re a kid and would like something terribly unhealthy like that. If you don’t like it I’ll make you something else.” Diego shrugs.

“No I like it,” He says, holding the plate close to his chest. He feels his eyes getting blurry.

“Are you okay? I know seeing that was a lot. Especially for someone...your age. I mean you’ve gotta be what? Ten?”

“I’m fourteen, dumbass. He was your deadbeat dad too, how do you feel about it?” Five replies with a pinch of attitude.

Diego pointedly ignores the “too”.

“Relieved. Is that wrong?” Diego asks, although he's unsure if asking a child something like that is the best idea.

“I’m pretty messed up so I wouldn’t know. Although, for what it's worth, I know you don’t believe that I’m your brother, but I’m relieved too.”

Diego nods, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

“You’re really serious about this.”

“As serious as an apocalypse.” Five retorts with a wide smile as he holds up his tattooed arm for emphasis.

“...Well, I know how crazy our family already is. If you can find some sort of evidence, real evidence that isn't some tattoo a fan boy could replicate, I’ll believe you. No questions asked. And now that dad’s dead, you can stay with me or something. If you really are who you say you are, we’ll figure something out for you.”

“Thanks, Diego. You’re...less of an asshole than you were when we were kids.”

Diego tries to let that comment slide. It’s hard believing someone he never met before is somehow his brother...that he knew when he was a kid. But he supposes that his other brother talking to the dead could be considered hard to believe to some as well.

“If you can promise me that there’s no one going to be out there looking for you right now, you can stay here until the rest of the family arrives.”

Five sets the empty plate down and gulps some water to clear his throat. He nods at Diego and wipes at his eyes. He can promise that someone won’t be looking for him in the way Diego expects, but it’s possible someone else may be looking for him in a more murder-y kind of way. _The Handler._ Dolores helpfully supplies. Diego claps his hand on Five’s knee and stands up.

“If you need to go looking through Dad’s office to find that proof, feel free. No one’s going to stop you, except maybe Pogo, who I’m sure you’re already aware of. Just tell him to fuck off and he’ll leave you alone. I’ve got to head back to work but I’ll be back later tonight.”

Five feels a genuine smile tug at his face. His brother is really trying and Five had truly underestimated him and his maturity.

Diego smiles back softly and leaves the room.

_Time to figure out what the hell is going on Dolores._

Dolores nods at him from the chair, face as serious as ever.

He picks her up and heads out of his old room and down the hall. He passes his siblings’ rooms and peaks inside. His heart clenches at the memories flooding his head. They were mostly bad, but that doesn’t stop him from feeling the pain of being separated from his siblings for seventeen years. 

He passes Luther’s room. It has a boyish charm to it, with its deep blue painted walls and plaid curtains. It feels like someone threw up an astronaut with the amount of space themed items in the room. There’s some picture frames on his desk, one of him with an annoyed looking Reginald. Luther always loved their dad and would have followed him to the ends of Earth, maybe beyond that. _Luther’s probably devastated._ Five considers. He feels detached, probably to an unhealthy point, to the situation, but then again so did Diego. Maybe Luther was the weird one? 

Five shrugs as he moves on to Allison’s room next. Her room is like a time capsule with its teenage charm. Posters of herself are still hung on the wall, she had always been so self involved. Her L + A locket is still hanging from the jewelry stand on her desk. Five fake gags at that. _That was weird._ Dolores nods along to his statement. 

He goes to pass Ben’s room but finds himself unable to. He gulps as he pads into the old space that used to belong to his kindest brother. He remembers reading Vanya’s book and discovering Ben had died very shortly after he had disappeared into the future. Dolores always tried to convince him it wasn’t his fault. They’d gotten into a lot of fights because of that. He sets Dolores down on a chair and takes a seat on the dusty bed as a memory washes over him. 

***

They’re twelve almost thirteen and they’ve just gotten home from another successful freeing of civilians from a bank heist. Ben’s crying in his room. Loudly. In fact, Five thinks this should be in the category of sobbing rather than regular crying. Everyone has to hear his wails, even their father who’s probably downstairs in his office without a care in the world. All of his siblings have been made to fear helping each other lest they hope to face their father’s wrath. Five doesn’t care though. He’s the fastest out of all of them anyway. He could probably be back in his room before their father had the chance to catch him. Especially with how good he’s gotten at his spatial jumps lately. He almost wanted dad to catch him just to see the look on his face. Five chuckles to himself before another cry breaks him from his daydream. 

Five quickly drops from his bed to the floor and crawls onto his hands and knees. He feels around under his bed until his hands find purchase. He smiles softly and pulls the object out from the darkness.

“Mr. Pennycrumb,” Five whispers, hugging the stuffed animal to his chest.

Mr. Pennycrumb is a stuffed animal that looks like a pug that Five once stole from a store. He’d seen the little thing and had immediately fallen in love. Knowing his father would never let him have something so “emasculating” Five decided to put his powers to the test one night. He snuck out and walked to the store when it was closed. With one jump in and one jump out, he left with a new puppy in tow.

“You’ve got a very important job to do,” Five says with a stern look on his face. 

He kisses the dog’s snout and then sets him into the pocket of his shirt. He holds his arms out and pulls time and space apart. It spits him back out in the middle of Ben’s room. Said boy is sitting on his bed with his knees to his chest, eyes swollen and red and tears everywhere. His hair is a mess and his shirt is soaked with snot. 

“F-five?” Ben questions through bleary eyes.

Five nods and sits on the edge of the bed. He picks Mr. Pennycrumb up out of his pocket and gently sets him on top of Ben’s knees.

“I-uh-I got him for you,” Five says quickly, so as he doesn’t have enough time to take the words back.

Ben’s eyes widen as he wheezes out a breath. 

“R-really?”

“Yeah, he’s yours. His name is Mr. Pennycrumb, he’s really special.”

Ben nods at that and hugs the dog tightly to his chest.

Five knows this is the best he can do for his brother right now. He can’t say he understands because he doesn’t. He’s never had to make the kill shot before. Sure he distracts and occasionally knocks out people leading to their demise by his siblings’ hands but he’s never had to watch his own body rip people limb from limb. He could never understand the kind of trauma Ben was forced to go through time and time again. So he just sits there as Ben holds Mr. Pennycrumb and he stays there until he’s fast asleep. 

Five sends one last forlorn look at his old companion before jumping back to his room where he reads a book on quantum physics until he falls asleep with the spot under his arm strangely empty. 

***

Five emerges from the memory with so much pain in his chest that he bends over the bed trying to catch his breath. He takes a few deep breaths before he feels curiosity start to grow. He finds himself pulling the bed skirt up to peek under. There Mr. Pennycrumb lies dusty and alone. They’re the same in that way, Five thinks with a shaky smile that he can’t hold for longer than a second. He doesn’t touch the dog, he thinks it's better that Mr. Pennycrumb stays and protects Ben’s room until he returns. He does whisper a small “hi” before getting up and leaving the room.

Dolores is a comfortable weight in his arms as he walks down the rest of the length of the hall, studiously ignoring the rest of his siblings’ rooms. 

_Why do you refuse to feel things, Five?_

Because they **hurt**. He wants to say. He ignores her instead.

Downstairs is silent, just like it was a year ago. Or seventeen. He sneaks into Reginald’s office undisturbed and for that he’s eternally grateful. He never much liked Pogo and Mom never quite felt like a mom. He pushes those thoughts aside as he reaches the desk. He sets Dolores down in his father’s chair and digs into the papers on his desk. 

“Anything that mentions me. Anything that mentions me,” He mumbles, scanning for his name everywhere. He digs through drawers when he can’t find anything in the papers on the desk.

“Come on. Come on!”

Frustration boils over. Five growls as he shoves things off his father's desk.

“Fuck you dad!” He yells, pulling at his hair harshly. 

“Fuck you too Vanya!” He adds, slamming his fist down on the desk.

Her book would have been extremely valuable in this situation, had she deigned to mention him even once. Months ago when he had found it in the remnants of a bookstore, he had actually welcomed the fact she hadn’t mentioned him considering the not so glowing recommendations she had on the rest of their siblings. But now he’s tired and annoyed and hurt and possibly in an alternate universe.

“Wait. That could be something right, Dolores?”

_Oh so now you’re talking to me?_

“I’m sorry okay? The apocalypse is in eight days and I know fuck all about it. I’m just...worried that’s all.” He reassures her.

_You’ve still got the eye._

_And Vanya’s book._

“And how would Vanya’s book be helpful right now?”

She stares at him.

“The calculations! God, of course! You’re a genius!”

“If I can just figure out where I went wrong then maybe I can fix it. I mean of course it took me about twelve months of 20 hour days of calculations but I mean how hard can finding one typo really be?”

Dolores doesn’t respond to that, although Five is sure she must agree. He picks her up and jumps back to his room. He finds his uniform jacket resting on the back of the chair he had found Dolores on when he woke up. He reaches his hand into the pocket. No book. He forces himself to remain calm as he reaches into the other.

“Where is it?” He grits his teeth. 

He jumps around his room. From the chair to the desk. From the desk to the closet. From the closet to under the bed. 

He jumps to other rooms in the house, even the ones he had been too afraid to enter earlier. He's too furious to have to worry about memories popping up.

_Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?_

He’s shaking in fury. His teeth are grinding back and forth. When Diego gets home, he’s going to  kill  him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this chapter! The rest of the fam will make their first appearance in the next chapter.

Five wakes to a hand on his arm. He blinks down to watch Diego’s finger trace the umbrella tattoo. He glances up at his brother’s face to find it deep in thought. 

“You know, it’s considered creepy to touch strange children you don’t know.”

Diego retracts his arm like he was burnt.

“I’m sorry, I just...I didn’t believe it was real. I mean you’re just a kid.”

“And you were a kid too.” Five mumbles before remembering he’s supposed to be furious. 

“Did you find that proof?” Diego asks so gently that it heightens Five’s irritation to another level.

Five twitches his eye in anger. He forces his hands into fists and allows that familiar sensation to take over. Within less than a second he’s disappeared from his bed and reappeared in the middle of his room. Diego whips his head around, eyes wide in surprise.

“Proof enough for you, _brother_?” Five snarls, jumping again to right in front of Diego’s shocked face.

“Where the hell is my book? I know you took it. I had to waste an entire night because of you! Now I’ve got seven days, Diego. SEVEN.”

“Seven days until what?” Diego forces his dropped jaw to make words. They come out as a mumble.

“I do not have the desire to explain things more than once. You can find out when the rest of our siblings get here tomorrow. Right now, I need you to get it together and find my fucking book.”

“I didn’t take your book. I don’t even know what book you’re talking about.”

Five’s eyes become slits as he stands on his tiptoes to shove his face in Diego’s.

“I’m being serious. I didn’t touch a book.” Diego repeats, holding his hands out in a placating manner.

“It was in my jacket. My jacket that was taken off of my body and placed here.” Five spells out, aggressively shoving his arm out to point to the jacket on the chair.

“Well Mom would have been the one to take your jacket off, she’s the one that stitched you back up.” Diego supplies.

Five leans back onto his heels. 

“But don’t go yelling at-”

Five’s already gone before he can finish.

He jumps around the house frantically looking for Grace until his powers refuse to respond to him. He ends up in the dining room, but she’s nowhere to be found. At least not in the usual spots like her charging station or the kitchen. He hears Diego calling for him from another room. Diego enters the dining room, looking out of breath.

“Hey, I wasn’t done talking to you.”

Five rolls his eyes.

“Well, I was done talking to you.”

“Where’s that kid from yesterday that cried over a sandwich?” Diego asks, jokingly.

“He’s trying to save your ass but you’re making it extremely difficult for him.” Five growls, teeth clenched.

“I don’t know what that means nor do I need some ten year old saving me. Can you please just explain what the hell that was back there?” Diego begs, mind still reeling.

“First of all, I am fourteen. Secondly, it was my power, what else would it be dumbass?”

“Okay enough with the names. You’d be confused in my situation too.” Diego says, breathing in and out heavily.

“Highly doubtful.” Five argues, crossing his arms across his chest.

“If you’re our brother you would have been born the same time as us so why are you...fourteen?”

“UGH, Diego. You’re really going to make me explain all this shit twice, aren’t you?” Five unfolds his arms to massage his temples.

“Please, I just want to understand. Make me understand.”

Five sighs, as he pulls a chair out from the dining table. He sits in the chair and motions Diego to do the same in the chair in front of him. Diego sits and Five begins his depressing story.

“Seventeen years ago Dad refused to let me practice my temporal jumps, time travel, and I was stubborn and I ignored him. I ran and ran until I ended up in the future seventeen years later, seven days from now. It was a wasteland. Our house was destroyed like everything else for as far as I could see and... I found most of your bodies. I spent a year tirelessly writing calculations to figure out how to get back and prevent all this from happening. But, something went wrong. I was supposed to return back to the day I left, mostly to prevent... Ben from dying... but to also have all that extra time to figure out what happened. Instead I’ve ended up here in a potentially alternate universe where you don’t remember me and the apocalypse is seven days away and I’ve got no idea how to stop it.”

“Well if you’re in an alternate universe, couldn’t the apocalypse just not be a thing anymore?”

“Really? You followed all of that?” Five snorts.

“No, but weirdly I believe you.” Diego says, surprising even himself.

“Hmm well to your earlier point, it’s possible and to determine the percentages of possibilities I could really use Vanya’s book, it’s the one I kept my calculations in. Without it, I’d have to start fresh and like I said that took me a year just to get wrong calculations.”

Diego’s face sours at “Vanya’s book” but nods along anyway.

“Well in that case, let’s find Mom. Hopefully she knows where it is.”

They walk together throughout the house looking for Grace. They eventually run into Pogo in the living room who informs them she had gone outside. They find her standing in the courtyard incredibly still staring up at the sky.

“Hey, Mom, have you seen Five’s book?” Diego asks softly.

“Who?” She asks, eyes distant.

It hurts more than Five expects. He feels a deep dark despair take root as he realizes he’s not going to be able to figure out what went wrong to stop his siblings from all dying in some fiery apocalypse. 

“Uh, him,” Diego motions towards Five, “You helped stitch him up and he had a book in his jacket, do you know where it went?”

Grace turns to look at Five and cocks her head to the side.

“I don’t understand.”

Five looks up at the sky, willing his eyes to dry.

“Okay, Mom.” Diego whispers and uses a hand on Five’s back to guide them back inside.

“I’m sorry, she’s not usually so...detached.”

Five nods as he shoves his shaking hands into his pockets and walks away. Diego watches him leave as anxiety builds. The thought of an impending doom was not exactly comforting. He sets off to keep looking around the house for Five’s book.

Before he knows it, it’s time for him to head to work. He cleans the gym with thoughts of the end consuming him. His siblings are supposed to arrive tomorrow and he wonders how they will take the news that the world might end in just a matter of days or the news that they have another brother who they can’t remember. He mindlessly completes the rest of his tasks for the night before he heads back to the house. He’d prefer to just sleep in his own bed in the boiler room rather than his childhood one but he feels weird leaving his time traveling little brother who he stole from a crime scene in a big house alone. He laughs to himself as he parks the car, who’d have imagined his life could ever be crazier than it was during his childhood. 

He heads inside the silent house, up the stairs, and down the hall to his bedroom. He enters his room but reconsiders and leaves it to check on Five. The light’s still on and Diego feels a hint of worry as he pushes the door open. His eyes track an erratic Five who’s jumping around the room writing on his walls that are now full of equations that look incredibly foreign to Diego.

“You realize it’s 1 am, right?”

“You realize I don’t give a shit, right?” Five mocks without turning around.

“Clearly. I thought you needed your book?” Diego questions, slightly annoyed at having spent so much time looking for the book that revealed all his secrets to the world.

“Well I do to figure out what I miscalculated and if I’m in a different universe or not. But thankfully I can still figure out if the apocalypse is likely still a go here by running some calculations. I’ve deducted, based mostly off of the fact that the moment I got here I was tracked and supposed to be killed twice, that the apocalypse is still happening and someone doesn’t want me to stop it.” 

“Why would someone want you to kill you? Why would someone want to prevent an apocalypse? Hold on did you say twice-”

“I don’t know. All I have to go off is a name, ‘The Handler’, and this eyeball,” He says, pulling the object from his pants pocket and showing Diego who grimaces at the sight.

“Can I see it?” Diego asks, trying his best to seem helpful.

Five tosses the eye before jumping to the wall on the other side of the room where he scribbles another equation.

Diego rolls the eye around in his hand.

“Meritech Prosthetics, that’s like a ten minute drive from here.” He supplies, staring into the eye.

“Really?” Five inquires excitedly.

“Yeah, maybe we can go there tomorrow after you tell everyone what’s going on.” He offers, ripping his gaze from the prosthetic.

“Thank god, finally we have something. Thank you, Diego, you’re less of a nuisance than I expected.” 

Diego throws the eye at Five, who barely jumps fast enough to miss getting hit in the face. 

“You better get your beauty sleep, princess. The rest of our siblings won’t take kindly to this attitude of yours.”

“Whatever.”

Five flicks Diego off, who takes this as his signal to go to bed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yall I just wrote the climax chapter for this fic because I love action and wanted to jump ahead and let me just say wow that got INTENSE. Also by the way, thank you to everyone leaving comments and kudos, y'all are what keep me going! Anyway here’s a new chapter :) luther is not nice here just a forewarning.

Five startles from his morning nap to the sounds of shouts coming from downstairs.

“Sounds like the family’s all here, huh? Time to face the music I guess.”

He yawns loudly. Nervousness grips him as he gently places a kiss on Dolores’ forehead before leaving the room and heading downstairs.

He hides himself against the wall next to the archway that leads to the bar area in the living room. His siblings are all currently standing around with each other. All but...Ben. Five winces. He had wanted to go back to the day he had left all those years ago for many reasons, the most important being to save Ben from his untimely death. But he fucked that up, like he fucks everything up.

 _Now’s not the time. You’ve got six days now. Six._ He hears Dolores remind him, or maybe it's him reminding himself. He shakes himself from his thoughts and leans in towards the archway to listen to what his siblings are arguing about.

“I mean his monocle is missing and you all know he never goes anywhere without that thing.” He hears a deep voice say. Luther.

“What are you suggesting Luther?” A soft, feminine voice, Allison he decides, asks.

“He’s suggesting that one of us killed dad.” Diego answers in place of his brother.

“What the hell, Luther?” Klaus yelps, throwing his hands up in the air.

“How could you think that?” Vanya utters, offense painted on her pale face.

“I’m not-I’m just saying there’s foul play here okay? And I think it could have something to do with why Dad sent me to the moon”

 _The moon? The hell?_ Five scrunches his nose up at that. 

“There’s no fucking foul play, Luther. I would know.” Diego asserts, spinning the knife in his hand.

“I’m sorry, last I heard you’re an ex cop?” Luther jabs.

He can hear footsteps, likely his siblings getting ready to storm off and he realizes now is his best chance to step in and diffuse or at least distract. He’s never been great at the whole diffusing thing. He’s definitely skilled when it comes to exacerbating situations though, that he’s sure on.

He takes a deep breath and steps into the room. All eyes fall onto him. He takes a moment to scan all of their faces, they all look so different.

“Aww who is this little fella?” Klaus asks and Five glowers in response.

“Uh, I can explain-” Diego starts.

“Oh my God, Diego, are you a dad?” Allison gasps in excitement.

“Uh not quite. Five would you like to explain?”

“Aye, we were named after numbers too!” Klaus exclaims continuing with, “I'm Four. In fact, we never had a fi-”

“I’m your time traveling brother from potentially another universe and there’s an apocalypse coming in six days that we have to figure out how to stop.”

A pin could drop and likely echo throughout the entire house with the sheer strength of the silence.

“Seriously? You couldn’t ease them into it?” Diego growls lowly.

“Frankly, we don’t have the time.” Five says shrugging his shoulders.

For a few moments, the rest of the siblings simply stare at him.

“Diego, where did you get this kid from?” Luther finally asks, voice tinged with annoyance.

“There was this situation at Gimbles…” Diego starts.

“The break in?” Vanya inserts.

Diego nods.

“I found him there.” Diego answers hesitantly. He glances at Five who’s smiling like a maniac at their siblings.

“So you’re telling me you found this stranger who claims to be our brother at a crime scene and brought him back to our house where you found our dead dad?” A patronizing tone that they’re all familiar with enters Luther’s voice.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what he said, Luther,” Klaus points out.

“And you thought that was a good idea?” Luther demands, treating Diego like he was an idiot. 

_At least_ _some things stay the same._ Five thinks.

“Once again you’re suggesting one of us killed Dad.” Diego asserts, his voice growing with anger.

“I’m not suggesting one of _us_ killed Dad, I’m suggesting this stranger you invited into our home killed Dad,” Luther counters, motioning to Five who only smiles wider with the accusation.

“Stranger? Luther, he was the victim of a crime. He was with me basically the entire night.”

Five feels oddly warm at Diego defending him, it's such a stark difference from the tattle tale younger version of Diego that Five had been so used to.

“And how do you know where he was before that? How do you know he wasn’t the suspect at Gimbles and Griddy’s?” Luther grills.

“Luther,” Allison warns, face marked with clear annoyance. Luther has the decency to look bashful at that.

“Because he’s a _child._ I mean you should have seen how he looked when I found him. He was terrified, shaking like a leaf.” Diego describes as Five glares a hole through his head. 

“I was not terrified!” Five corrects the same time Luther argues “That doesn’t mean he’s not capable of evil.”

“I for one think he did us a favor if he killed dear old Dad,” Klaus chimes in.

“Shut the hell up Klaus.” Luther snaps.

Klaus mimes zipping his lips.

Pogo enters the room, interrupting whatever Luther was about to say.

“Excuse me, children, but if you still plan to give your father a funeral I believe you should consider doing it posthaste as there appears to be a storm on the way,” Pogo says softly, a forlorn look on his face.

Luther flares his nostrils angrily and says, “This conversation is not over,” as he picks up the urn and heads out of the house to the courtyard.

Diego rolls his eyes but makes to follow Luther out of the room. He puts an arm around Five’s shoulders and leads him out. 

“Diego’s such a dad,” Klaus gushes, bumping his shoulder with Vanya who pointedly ignores him.

Everyone grabs umbrellas on their way out of the house except Luther and Diego who are too busy trying to out-manly each other. 

Grace is already standing outside holding her umbrella above her head. She asks if something has happened and Allison reminds her of Reginald’s death. Diego reassures everyone that Mom’s just fine, just needs a rest. Five thinks it’s quite a bleak situation as he stands next to Diego in the circle the group has created around Luther.

“Whenever you’re ready dear boy,” Pogo instructs, sniffling.

This is all the direction Luther needs to begin dumping their father’s ashes on the wet ground. The ash forms a pile that has everyone grimacing. 

“Probably would have been better with some wind,” Luther admits dejectedly.

It’s silent for a beat before Pogo asks, “Does anyone wish to speak?” 

At no response, Pogo begins to talk about owing their father and about his greatness and blah blah blah. 

“I know your father leaves behind a complicated legacy-” He starts, glancing over at Five.

Diego breaks just as Five was about to, retorting with, “He was a monster. He was a bad person and a worse father. The world’s better off without him.”

“Diego,” Allison cuts him off. 

“He’s right,” Five agrees.

“Who said you could speak?” Luther growls.

“My brain I guess.” Five shrugs, a fake smile adorning his face.

“You little shit,” Luther lunges at him, but stops short as Diego brandishes his knife and steps in front of Five.

“Seriously, guys?” Allison scoffs.

“Don’t talk to him like that,” Diego demands.

“Oh, I see. You were so lonely from pushing everyone away that you decided to kidnap some kid and brainwash him into thinking you're his brother so someone would finally love you.” Luther jeers.

“Diego don’t!” Vanya shouts but Diego’s knife is already sailing through the air.

It swipes the side of Luther’s arm, ripping his shirt. Allison gasps and Luther is quick to grab his arm to hide himself. He storms away, shoving Five as he does so. Diego puts a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

“We don’t have time for this,” Five says, shrugging Diego’s hand off of his shoulder and following Luther into the house.

The moment he steps inside, he’s pushed against a wall. The breath is knocked from his lungs as his head and back bang on the wall. 

“I know who you are."

“You do?” Five wheezes.

“Diego can’t protect you forever.” Luther threatens, ripping away from the boy when the door opens. He stomps away.

Five lets himself slide down the wall until he hits the floor. Vanya suddenly enters his field of vision.

“Hey, are you okay?”

At no response, she continues with, “Luther can be a real jerk sometimes.”

Five chuckles at that and looks up at Vanya as she crouches in front of him. She looks so much older than he remembers. She’s pale. She looks tired. Exhausted. He wonders if life ever gave her a break. He remembers how isolated she had been during their childhood.

“I just want things to go back to normal,” He mumbles.

She nods and reaches out a hand. He grabs it and she easily pulls him to his feet. 

“You know, I read your book. I thought it was good, all things considered. Definitely ballsy, exposing all the family secrets. I’m sure that went over well.” He pats her on the arm.

“They hate me.” Vanya admits, eyes downcast.

“There are worse things.” He whispers.

His eyes go distant, his face slack.

_He jumps into a wasteland._

_He runs to the academy. It’s destroyed._

_He screams Vanya’s name anyway. Then Ben’s. Then his father’s._

_He finds Luther first, a prosthetic eye clasped in a dead hand._

_Diego next, who he shakes to no avail._

_Allison only a few feet away, covered in brick._

_Last Klaus who stares with dead eyes._

_Tears fall down his face as he falls to his knees. He retches. Dry heaves yank the breath from his lungs. When he can finally breathe again he screams, slamming his fist into the ground._

_“Hello?” He hears a voice call. He rips himself from the ground, hope sloshing in his chest._

_But it's not Ben, or dad, and most certainly not Vanya._

There are worse things.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyyy dudes, new chapter coming at ya. This chapter I will give a warning for a quick mention of suicide in passing during Five's monologue which starts with "I've had a hard year..." Other than that I don't believe there's anything else in this chapter that needs a warning. If you're enjoying this story pls comment, I love reading your thoughts!! Anyway, hope you guys have a great weekend and enjoy this new chapter.

Five spends a while in his room contemplating things. His family is here and that’s great and all but now he’s contemplating if this is his real family or not. If it’s not, is his real family out there somewhere unknowingly six days from an apocalypse? Should he prioritize this family and stopping this apocalypse? Or should he prioritize fixing his equations and getting back to his real family and stopping that apocalypse? He thinks of how much easier it would be if time traveling just worked in his favor and he could travel back further and have more time to decide what to do. He considers the probabilities marked on his walls. An apocalypse will happen in this universe that he is almost certain of. But will he be saving some carbon copy of his family while his real family dies?

_You know it might help if you all sit down and have a civil conversation? Talking about your childhoods might clue you in on where you are and what’s going on? I mean Klaus mentioned something about not having a Number Five in this universe? That can’t make sense. And Mr. Pennycrumb? How did he end up there in Ben’s room?_

Five sighs at that. Although he will admit that Dolores’ idea is a solid one, he desperately hates the idea of sitting down and talking childhoods out, especially when theirs had been so horrendous.

“Alright Dolores I might take you up on that. But for now, I’m going to go steal Diego’s car and figure out this eyeball shit. At least that’s probably relevant in both universes” He smirks as he dangles the keys he swiped from Diego earlier when he was being annoying and protective. 

He waves to Dolores who sighs in annoyance as he opens his bedroom window and heads out to Meritech Prosthetics. He’s back within thirty minutes with nothing to show for it. 

_Stupid Lance and his stupid punchable face and his stupid brain incapable of comprehending everything I’ve had to go through to get here._

Five jumps from the alley way back into his bedroom. He finds Klaus’ back turned to him as he digs through the wardrobe. Five clears his throat. Klaus jumps banging his head on the roof of the wardrobe.

“Shit, warn a guy would ya?”

“What are you doing in my room?”

“Oh, this is your room? Sorry, buddy. I was looking for some cash but this room is desolate. You need to at least decorate or something, give it some pizzazz.” Klaus wiggles his fingers.

Five blinks, a plan formulating in his head.

“How would you like to make twenty bucks?”

“Boy would I!” Klaus shouts, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

“We have to find you something that looks less like you just went dumpster diving to wear and then I need you to pose as my dad.” Five explains as he looks Klaus up and down.

“Sure, buddy, but why don’t you just use your real dad, Diego?” Klaus questions, closing the wardrobe doors.

“Diego is not my dad! And if you say he is one more time I will cut you,” Five says, making a show of pulling Diego’s knife out of his pocket and waving it in the air.

“Mhmm feisty little guy. Okay let’s go raid Dad’s closet, I’m sure he won’t mind,” Klaus chuckles, prancing out of the room.

_God I hope this won’t backfire._

They make it down to Diego’s car and Five is buckling his seat belt when a sharp knock on his window has him flinching in his seat. He finds himself face to face with an angry Diego and an angry Diego’s knife. He rolls his eyes and considers just driving away but pushes the door outwards instead. 

“What.” He growls.

“What the absolute hell is going on here?!” Diego yells, reaching down and unbuckling Five’s seat belt.

“I’m _borrowing_ your car.” Five answers, buckling himself back in.

“Really? Are you now? Because borrowing a car usually doesn’t look like sniping someone’s keys when they aren’t looking.” Diego reaches down to unbuckle the seat again, but Five smacks his hand away.

“Whatever.” 

Five reaches his hand out to grab the door handle. Diego moves to stand bodily in front of the door and glares down at the boy.

“Don’t whatever me, I told you I’d take you to Meritech so what the hell, Five?”

“I don’t need a bodyguard. I’m fourteen. I can do this on my own.” Five hisses, pushing at Diego’s leg.

“Really? Then why is Klaus in the passenger seat?” Diego questions, grabbing Five’s hand and holding it in his grasp. Klaus waves at Diego.

“Because every one in this god damn world is incompetent and I need an adult to speak for me because no one knows how to fucking respect me while I look like this.” Five answers, ripping his hand from Diego and gesturing to his outfit.

“I understand that you are...upset. I know this has been a hard few days for you-” Diego starts.

“A hard few days?” Five interrupts, unbuckling his seat belt and shoving himself out of the car angrily.

“I’ve had a hard year, Diego. Not a hard _few days_. Every single day gets worse for me. You have no idea the kind of shit I’ve gone through to get back to you guys and you...none of you even remember me. Do you have any idea what that’s like? To be stuck in a waste land for a year, no food, no water, and you can’t even kill yourself because there’s a microscopic chance you can get back to your family that’s moved on without you and save them from an impending apocalypse that you know nothing about. And when you finally figure out a way back you screw it up like everything else in your life and you end up in the wrong year with a family that doesn’t give a shit about you or the end of the world.”

Angry tears race down his cheeks. He aggressively wipes his face with his sleeves. His chest is moving up and down as his breath escapes him in harsh pants. As he stares at Diego’s watery expression, he barely registers Klaus getting out of the car and coming around to hug him.

“That sounds awful, buddy.” Klaus whispers, hands rubbing up and down Five’s back.

“You’re right, Five. You’re right about all of that, it’s all terrible and I will never understand. But, I am your brother and I do give a shit about you, in fact I give all the shits in the world about you. And you know how I show you that? By protecting you, my little brother.” Diego promises, setting a heavy hand on Five’s shoulder. 

Klaus releases him gently.

“If it makes you feel any better, Five, Ben and I both believe you.” Klaus says softly.

“Ben?” Diego and Five ask simultaneously, hope entangled in both.

“Yeah, he’s right here,” Klaus says motioning to the spot next to him.

“He says ‘hi’.”

Five smiles softly and Diego laughs lightly.

“He says after we figure out this eyeball shit, he’ll help you figure out what’s going on, Five.”

“Thank you, Ben.” Five says softly, face no longer a mess as he sighs shakily.

“Alright, baby brother, let’s go get some answers,” Diego reassures, opening the back door to the car.

Five steps in without complaint. Klaus walks around to the other side, setting himself back in the passenger seat. 

“Meritech Prosthetics, here we come!” Klaus shouts, arm pumping in the air.

* * *

Lance has to attempt to hide the surprise from his face at the strange family entering his office. He thinks he now understands why the little boy from before was so crazy with parents that look like that. The one in all black is glaring at him so hard he feels like he’ll set on fire any moment. The other has a look in his eyes that scares Lance to the core. 

“Like I said to your son earlier, any information about the prosthetics we build is strictly confidential. Without the client’s consent, I simply can’t help you.” Lance informs, glancing between the two men sitting and the boy standing in between them.

“Well, we can’t get consent if you don’t give us a name.” Five snarls, leaning against the desk into Lance’s face.

“Well that’s not my problem,” Lance smiles, fingers intertwined in his lap.

“And what about my consent?” Klaus asks, face serious as both Five and Diego stare at him with faces that clearly say “what the hell are you doing?!”.

“Excuse me?” Lance questions, echoing Five and Diego’s thoughts aloud although they would have probably added a couple profanities as well.

“Who gave you permission...to lay your hands...on my husband?” Klaus asks, choking up as he points over at a dumbstruck Diego.

“What?” Lance, Diego, and Five all echo. 

“You heard me.” Klaus sniffles exaggeratedly.

“I didn’t touch your husband.” Lance assures, glancing between the three.

“Oh, really? How did he get that swollen lip, then?” Klaus questions, standing from his chair.

“He doesn’t have a swollen lip-” Lance starts but is cut off by Klaus punching Diego across the face.

“I want it, name please, now.” Klaus demands, leaning onto the desk as both Diego and Five stare at him. Diego stares more murderously while Five just stares in confusion.

“You’re crazy,” Lance says with wide, horrified eyes.

Klaus chuckles.

“You got no idea.” He purrs, as he reaches down and picks up Lance’s globe from his desk.

“‘Peace on Earth.’ That’s so sweet.” Klaus says right before smashing the globe onto his face. 

The glass shatters against his head and he grunts as he whispers, “God, that hurt.”

Lance quickly reaches over and grabs the phone on his desk.

“I’m calling secur-”

Klaus rips the phone from his hand and yells “There’s been an assault in Mr. Bigg’s office and we need security, now. Schnell!” into the receiver.

“Now, here’s what’s going to happen, Grant.” Klaus starts, a wide smirk stretching his face maniacally.

“It’s...Lance,” the man corrects softly.

“In about 60 seconds two security guards are going to burst through that door and they’re gonna see a whole lot of blood, and they’re going to wonder ‘what the hell happened’ and we’re going to tell them that _you_ beat the shit out of two loving husbands in front of their child,” Klaus describes, voice raising theatrically at all the right parts.

“Jesus, you’re a real sick bastard.” Lance says in disgust.

“Thank you.” Klaus bows.

Lance gets up out of his chair and walking as far away from Klaus as possible, leads them down to the file room. Diego punches Klaus on the arm as he follows behind Lance. Five gives him a thumbs up. _Glad the little psychos are getting along._ Diego thinks to himself as he licks his bloody lip.

Klaus, Diego, and Five stand around the desk as Lance goes through a folder.

“That’s strange.” Lance mumbles.

“What is?” Diego asks.

“Uh, the eye. It hasn’t been purchased by a client yet.” Lance answers, anxiously glancing up at Klaus in anticipation of a reaction.

“What? What do you mean?” Klaus asks, jumping down from his perch on the desk to crowd around Lance.

“Well, uh, our logs say that the eye with that serial number- This can’t be right. It hasn’t even been manufactured yet. Where did you get that eye?” Lance asks, glancing up from his file to look at Five.

Five sighs as everyone stares at him.

* * *

“Well this is not good,” Five says as they leave the building empty handed. 

“I was pretty good though right? ‘Yeah, what about my consent, bitch?’” Klaus reenacts, chuckling to himself.

“It doesn’t matter, Klaus.” Five responds dejectedly.

“Why? What’s the big deal with this eye anyway?” Klaus asks looking between Diego and Five.

“Someone out there is going to lose that eye in the next six days. They’re going to bring about the end of life on earth as we know it,” the fourteen year old answers.

“God, this was useless, everything is useless.” Five sighs, plopping himself down on the concrete stairs.

“Hey, we’re going to figure it out. You’re not alone anymore okay?” Diego assures, sitting down next to Five. 

“Yeah, Diego’s right, we’ll help you out lil bro. I mean I won’t help much personally but maybe I can force Ben to be of some help,” Klaus says with a shrug.

“Speaking of Ben, can I talk to you over there?” Diego asks, motioning away from Five. 

“Why sure, brother!” Klaus answers easily following Diego away from the steps. 

Five watches as his brothers argue animatedly. Klaus’ hands keep going in the air as he likely attempts to defend himself from Diego’s angry barrage. Five figures he’d probably be mad too if he had been here for the past 17 years and had no clue Klaus was talking to his dead brother the whole time. Nonetheless, Five doesn’t have the patience to sit here and wait for his brothers to stop wasting precious time. He sees a taxi driving past the building and jumps into the backseat. When the driver flinches, he yells at him to keep driving. He waves at Klaus and Diego’s surprised faces as he passes. 

_Time to do some more calculations and maybe possibly hold a family meeting._


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me realizing it’s Gimble’s not Grimble’s: :O  
> My b y'all.  
> Anyway now that I’m embarrassed, here’s another chapter.  
> Warning for panic attack in this chapter.

Five walks up the steps to the Academy doors and immediately feels something is wrong. The door is wide open and heavy thuds are coming from inside. He peers his head inside the door to see both Luther and Allison engaged in fights with two people wearing masks identical to the ones that attacked him at Gimble’s. The one in the blue mask is fighting Luther while the one in the pink mask is fighting Allison. Five watches as Luther is slammed to the ground. Allison yells his name in worry, allowing Pink Mask the chance to take her by surprise. The assassin pulls Allison to their chest and aims their gun at her head. Luther drops to the ground bonelessly at the sight, and puts his hands up in surrender.

“We just want the boy,” Pink Mask says, tightening her grip on Allison.

“I’m right here!” Five shouts from the doorway and when Pink Mask takes the bait aiming her gun at him, he spatial jumps onto her back, legs wrapping around her waist and arm around her neck.

She yells in surprise as he knocks the gun from her hand and pulls Diego’s knife up to her neck. She drops her hold on Allison and raises her hands. Luther smirks up at Blue Mask from the ground. Blue Mask backs away from Luther and raises his hands placating. Five hears Klaus and Diego enter the house with murmurs of “what the hell”. Blue Mask and Pink Mask glance at each other. Blue Mask takes his chance to run away. Luther and Allison chase after him. 

“What the hell do you want?” Five demands, tightening his hold on Diego’s knife. He can feel Klaus and Diego staring at him, probably wondering what in the world they had just stepped into.

“I heard you had some fun in the apocalypse with...oh, what was his name?” Pink Mask’s voice is a sharp whisper. It hits its mark like a poison dagger.

Five’s hold falters as his heart drops in his chest. Pink Mask takes that moment of hesitation and rips Five from her back, throwing him over her shoulder. He hits the ground hard. He can hear Diego and Klaus yelling but it sounds like they’re underwater. He blinks up at the ceiling as he feels snowflakes falling onto his face. He smells the death, the dust, the fire. His hands shake and he feels a tremor roll through his body. His throat is dry. He can hear his brain screaming at him to not think about it. He can see Diego’s worried face. He can feel hands touching him and he tries to flinch away.

“Stop!” He hears Vanya’s voice yell, “He’s having a panic attack, don’t touch him.”

He sees her bloody face above him and he blinks to clear his cloudy vision.

“Five, the day is March 24th 2019, you are in the Umbrella Academy house. I need you to slow your breathing, okay?” Vanya instructs, voice gentle in understanding.

Five hiccups as he attempts to slow his sharp breaths.

“I can’t,” he sobs, teeth chattering.

Diego takes Vanya’s place and softly says, “You can. I know you can. You’re strong. You survived, you’re not in the apocalypse anymore. You have time. You have us.” 

_I’m not there anymore. I have time. I have help. I’m not there anymore. I’m not._

He shudders, shakily reaching his hands up to wipe at his red, swollen eyes. 

“That’s it. You’re doing so well, little brother,” Diego compliments, hovering close but pulling himself from Five’s view after Vanya advises him it will help to give some space.

Five counts to three, taking deep breaths in and out. His heart no longer feels like it’s going to explode out of his chest and his full body shakes calm to a less aggressive ripple. 

“Can I touch you?” He hears Vanya ask.

He shakes his head no. 

“Okay,” Vanya whispers, “Well, we will all be right here until you feel better.”

Five tilts his head to look around. He’s surrounded by Diego, Vanya, Klaus, Allison, and even Luther. They all give him kind and soft smiles. He lays his head back on the ground and closes his eyes, allowing the remaining tears to slide down his face. 

He eventually gets up, embarrassment reddening his face. They all watch him silently as he heads up the stairs. He locks himself in the first bathroom he finds. He turns the sink on the coldest setting possible and lowers his head under the faucet. His hair soaks and he closes his eyes as the ice cold water flows through his hair and down his face. He sucks in a breath as he focuses on the cold against his hot skin. He sighs as he turns off the water and reaches over to grab a hand towel. He dries his hair slowly and methodically. He jumps at a knock on the door.

“Uh, Five?” He hears Luther ask, nervously.

Out of all the people that could have come to bother him, Luther was the least likable option. Five rolls his eyes and sets the towel down. He looks at himself in the mirror. _I look like someone who just escaped from a year in a wasteland._ He thinks as he considers his pale complexion, his dark eye bags, and his skinny body. He smooths his wet hair down and sighs. He opens the bathroom door to Luther’s puppy dog eyes. 

“Can we talk?” Luther asks, rubbing his sweaty hands on his pants. 

“Okay,” Five answers, heading to his bedroom. Luther’s heavy steps follow him.

The fourteen year old takes a seat on the edge of his bed, glancing over at Dolores’ worried face.

Luther stands awkwardly in the middle of the room and wrings his hands.

“I just wanted to apologize to you. You deserve an apology. I was...awful to you. It was uncalled for. I guess just being alone on the moon so long and finding out Dad was dead and coming home to find a stranger in the house, I just overreacted. I let my anger control me and I am so sorry. You saved Allison’s life today and I owe you for that.” Luther lowers his head in embarrassment. 

Five had never particularly liked Luther, in fact he hadn’t particularly liked most of his siblings. But, he still loved them and he guesses that’s enough.

“Okay,” Five answers.

“Okay?”

“Yeah, I’d like to cash that in right now though. I need you to call a family meeting and during it I need you to be reasonable.” Five says, folding his arms across his chest.

“Alright, sounds fair to me.” Luther smiles. He stands there for a beat longer before realizing the conversation is over and leaves the room.

* * *

Five sits on the couch in between Diego and Klaus. Vanya sits in the chair furthest away from everyone, legs folded and arms crossed. Luther and Allison stand between Vanya and the couch.

“I know you guys probably think I’m insane, but I told you guys the truth. Those people that attacked us earlier, they were the same ones that attacked me at Gimble’s. And this has only reinforced my hypothesis that someone is trying to kill me to make sure the apocalypse still happens. I left you guys in 2002 and I ended up six days from now in the future. And it was desolate. Something happened, something bad and I found your bodies. I spent a year trying to figure out how to get back to 2002 but I ended up here a few days ago instead. I think my calculations were off, or time travel messed something up. Reginald always said that time travel was a fickle thing…” Five trails off.

“So the world is supposed to end in six days?” Allison asks, face deep with concern.

“Yes.” Five confirms.

“Do you have any leads?” Vanya asks, fidgeting in her chair anxiously.

“Diego, Klaus, and I followed the only lead we had, this eyeball I found clutched in Luther’s hand,” Five answers, showing them the eye before shoving it back in his pocket. Luther swallows at that.

“It ended up being a dead end but I’m going to keep looking into the guy we talked to. Something about him is fishy.” Five says, looking to Klaus who nods his head in agreement.

“Okay, is there anything we can do?” Luther offers.

“I had a book with me when I arrived here. One of Vanya’s books. It has my calculations in it. I may be able to figure out how to travel further back and prevent this all from happening if I can find it.”

“Okay so you say you left us in 2002, why can’t any of us remember you?” Allison asks softly.

“Well there are two possibilities: Either I accidentally sent myself to an alternate universe or something went wrong with time and I was removed from the past. Which is the reason why I asked for a meeting. I thought maybe we could compare childhoods so I can try to figure some things out while my book is still lost.” Five explains, glancing at the grimaces on his siblings’ faces.

“For example, none of you were called Number Five?” Five starts with what he thinks is a simple question.

“No, actually,” Luther answers, his face scrunching in confusion.

“So Dad just skipped over that number?” Five asks, eye twitching and face tilting in puzzlement. 

His siblings all nod in agreement. 

“And you guys never thought that was weird?” Five questions.

“I’ve never even thought about it until now,” Vanya shrugs.

“What about pictures? In my universe, we were forced to take group pictures and Dad put them up on the wall. But, here I haven’t seen any with me in them. Do you remember taking group pictures before 2002?”

“Yes, we definitely did, but I can’t remember you,” Diego answers from his seat next to Five. The rest of the siblings all agree.

“Okay, uh, Klaus, can you ask Ben something for me?” Five requests.

“Sure…” Klaus says as quietly as possible, body rigid as he prepares for the onslaught from his siblings. It comes as expected, everyone yelling at Klaus for keeping them in the dark.

“Would you have even believed me?” Klaus interrupts and they all sober at the question.

“That’s what I thought,” He mumbles, continuing with, “I’m sorry for not telling you guys, but you know now. I’ll conjure him so you can all see him, but Five gets to ask the first question.” 

They all nod in solidarity.

Ben appears, standing on the other side of the couch. He’s glowing blue and much taller than the Ben Five knew.

“Hi, guys,” He says softly, waving at his siblings. 

Diego tears up and chokes out a “hi, Ben.” Vanya waves with a watery expression, Allison gasps, and Luther reaches up to wipe at his eyes.

“Hi, Five,” Ben smiles gently, directing his attention to the boy on the couch.

Five smiles softly in return. 

“I-I wanted to know if you remember this?” Five asks, pulling Mr. Pennycrumb from his jacket pocket.

Ben’s smile drops.

“Mr. Pennycrumb, of course I remember him.” Ben says, trying not to relive the terrible moments of his childhood.

“Do you remember where you got him from?” Five holds the stuffed animal on his lap.

Ben rubs a hand on his forehead as he tries to remember something, anything that could be helpful.

“No,” Ben answers after a moment of hesitation.

“Why’d you name him Mr. Pennycrumb?” Five inquires, hoping that Ben will suddenly remember everything.

“I-uh-I think someone else named him that?” Ben suggests, shrugging his shoulders.

“Who?” Five begs.

“I-I can’t remember.”

Five pinches himself in the leg as he attempts to remain calm. This situation is one he had never prepared for in the future.

“I’m sorry,” Ben whispers, face guilty.

“I can’t hold him much longer,” Klaus suddenly says, his face pinched in concentration.

“You could if you weren’t-” Ben starts.

“Shut it.” Klaus interrupts, glaring at his brother.

The rest of the siblings all say goodbye as Ben fades from view. 

“I’m sorry, Fivey, I thought he’d be more helpful.” Klaus apologizes, patting Five on the leg.

“What about you Allison, you don’t remember me constantly jumping into your room bugging you? And that one time I let you give me a makeover?” Five laughs softly as he remembers the look of horror on Reginald’s face when he walked in halfway through Five’s makeover.

“No, I’m sorry Five.” Allison answers, rubbing her arm guiltily.

“Luther, you don’t remember that time we ignored Dad and went for a run at like two am and almost got kidnapped?” Five winces at that memory.

Luther cringes, but shakes his head no.

“Vanya, you used to perform entire concerts in front of me. We were best friends. We’d stay up talking all night.” Five remembers, smiling at one of his favorite memories.

Vanya’s sad, lonely expression is enough of an answer.

“Klaus, you would sleep in my room after Dad forced you to stay in the mausoleum and I’d stay awake all night protecting you from ghosts.” Five feels a chill as he remembers the horror on Klaus’ face.

Klaus shudders at that, but Five doesn’t even wait for an answer as he turns to look at Diego who is giving him the most pity filled look possible. It almost makes Five gag.

“You don’t remember all the times Dad made us spar and you’d purposefully throw too far to the side so you didn’t hit me? And we’d lay on the ground exhausted after and talk about running away?”

Diego gazes down at his lap, unable to look at Five’s desperate and broken expression.

“Fuck.” Five says, hiding his face in his hands.

He feels a hand on his back. He drops his hands and his face goes blank.

“It’s fine. This was clearly a waste of time, but it’s fine I just need to find my book and try to figure out a way to keep us all alive until I can get the hell out of this timeline.” Five’s voice is devoid of any feeling. 

His siblings all bow their heads, clearly upset with themselves for not being able to remember their own brother.

“I just need to find my book,” Five repeats, mindlessly getting up from the couch. 

He leaves the room. Mr. Pennycrumb is left behind in his spot on the couch. Diego picks the stuffed animal up and rubs his thumb across its fur. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to say...this is the fastest I have EVER written a fic before. I'm usually AWFUL about taking forever to add new chapters. Maybe the quarantine has gotten to me? Idk, anyway here's a new chapter for you! Let's see how many times I can start a chapter with Five waking up.

Five wakes to a blistering headache and puffy eyes. He blinks through his blurry vision. _Still dark outside._

“What time is it?” He asks aloud, glancing over at the alarm clock on the nightstand.

The clock blinks, a large 4:15 am painted across. Five sighs. His sleep schedule had been all kinds of fucked since the apocalypse. Many nights he didn’t sleep trying to reach some kind of breakthrough with his calculations, others he just didn’t sleep out of fear. Especially after-

 _What time do you think Lance gets to work?_ Dolores asks, reminding him of what he was supposed to be doing today. He yawns and shrugs his shoulders.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt for me to get to the stake out early. Although I’m gonna need to find transportation. I don’t think Diego will let me get away with stealing his car again,” Five sighs changing out of his pajamas and into his uniform. 

_Why don’t you just ask him to go with you?_

“He’s got a weird work schedule and besides I think I’ve probably bothered him enough for the next century,” Five says, pulling his duffel out from under his bed. 

“Should I?” He asks, glancing at the rifle bag he had hidden behind the duffel.

Dolores’ silence is a resounding no. He shrugs and stands. He picks her up from her chair and places her into the bag.

“Alright, let’s get this show on the road.”

He hops out of his window, closing it behind himself. He readjusts the bag and heads down the fire escape. Reaching the bottom, he looks around the alleyway and finds a plumber van prime for the taking. He smirks, preparing to spatial jump just as a crash from the dumpster has him flinching and slowly turning to check on the sound.

“Klaus! What the hell?”

Klaus turns his head to face Five.

“Oh, hey there, little bro.”

“It’s four am! What the hell are you doing?” Five questions in a whisper yell. 

“I’m looking for some stupid book so Pogo gets off my ass!” He shouts, likely waking anyone in a five mile radius.

Five rolls his eyes and turns back towards the van.

“Where are you going, little man?” Klaus asks, as he starts digging through the trash again.

“Back to Meritech. Later.” Five says, before jumping to the driver seat of the car.

He jump-starts the car and whispers, “Easy peasy,” as he pulls out of the alley. 

As he drives, he thinks about the time Reginald forced them all to learn. They had been ten at the time.

“You never know when you might need a getaway driver,” He had said.

Klaus had fervently refused and was placed in the mausoleum for hours because of his disobedience. Five remembers comforting him the entire night after. He wishes Klaus could remember too. He shakes himself from his thoughts and parks the van across the street from the Meritech building. He unbuckles himself and pulls Dolores from his bag, setting her in the passenger seat. 

“Alright, Dolores, don’t let me fall asleep.” He instructs, leaning back in his seat and gluing his eyes to the front of the building.

Five am rolls around. Then six. Then seven. His eyes start to burn and feel heavy. He blinks quickly and his eyes water. He rubs his eyes and attempts to focus on the empty building front but finds himself slipping into sleep.

Five jolts awake at a loud knock on the van’s door. He jerks his head to the right and finds Luther staring at him through the window. He sighs and unlocks the door, reaching over to move Dolores out of the seat. 

“Klaus told me where you were,” Luther explains, struggling to get into the car. 

“And that you stole a car,” He continues disapprovingly as he finally forces himself in the seat.

Five shrugs as the door shuts.

“What is that?” Luther questions, staring at Dolores.

“Uh- her name is Dolores, she was with me in the apocalypse.” Five explains, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

Luther nods, face blank.

“Well I’m here because...I thought you should hear it from one of us first. Pogo found Mom this morning. The-uh-the assassins from yesterday attacked her, they ripped some of the wires right out of her arm,” He says, voice shaky.

“Does Diego know?” Five asks, face scrunched in confusion.

 _Why would they attack Mom?_ He wonders.

“Yes, Allison told him before I came to find you.” Luther confirms.

Five nods, frowning as his hand fiddles with a pulled string on his pants.

“Okay, well I just thought you should know,” Luther says, opening the car door.

“Thank you.” Five whispers, watching as Luther leaves the car and closes the door behind himself.

He thinks maybe he should feel worse about his mother being killed. She had loved him, he’s sure of that. But, the times she stood by as terrible things happened had always left him queasy. He remembers one time when he was eleven and Reginald forced him to be buried in a coffin to prove his spatial jumping skills. He had made him dig his own hole. He remembers thinking that maybe this was Reginald’s way of killing off the child that talked back. He dug and sweat in the summer sun as Mom watched him. Her face had been devoid of feeling when he had looked at her for comfort. He remembers thinking that maybe if he died, Reginald would go easier on his siblings. He remembers his first ever panic attack as he tried and failed to spatial jump out of the casket. And when he was eventually able to pull time and space around himself and land on the ground above where he was buried, no one was outside waiting for him. That had been a defining moment in his life, when he discovered his life was meaningless to his own father. He spent the next two years trying to figure out a way to escape his father’s clutches with his siblings.

He lets his head fall heavily against the car seat. He questions if life will ever give him a break or if he’ll be stuck in a cycle of miserableness until his body finally gives out on him. He sets Dolores back into the passenger seat.

He glances at the clock. 11:30 am. 

“Damn, I can’t believe I slept that long,” he murmurs, rubbing the remaining sleep from his eyes.

 _Sleep is good for you._ Dolores says sassily. 

“I am aware of that,” Five grumbles, looking over at the bustling sidewalk in front of the office building.

“I suppose there’s not much that I can really do at the moment anyway.”

Dolores looks at him knowingly as he lets his eyes shut again.

* * *

Hours later, Five restlessly readjusts his position in the seat. His stomach growls. He had gotten used to barely eating during the apocalypse, but that unfortunately doesn’t stop his stomach from yelling at him for not eating anything all day. He glances at the clock just as it changes to 9:30 pm. Finally, a stroke of luck strikes as he notices Lance step out of the building carrying a duffel bag. The man looks to the left and the right before walking to the street as a car pulls up. He places the bag in the backseat of the car and closes the door. The car drives away.

“I knew you were up to something, Lance,” Five snarls. 

_Time to go eat?_ Dolores suggests.

Five nods, buckling himself in. 

“Tomorrow morning, he better be ready for some explanations,” Five says.

Although, all in all, the day was wasted by him sleeping most of it away, he still feels like he’s finally a step closer to chipping away at the puzzle that is the apocalypse. 

He gets back home and scarfs down two peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches.

Heading back up to his room, he starts writing calculations on his empty wall. This time he starts to try to determine who is most likely to be the catalyst of the apocalypse. He works for hours straight until he circles a group of five names that are most likely to be the direct or indirect cause of the apocalypse. He leaves his spot at the wall and heads over to his bed where he reaches down under it to pull the rifle case out. He sets it on top of the bed and unzips the bag. He feels a stare on the back of his head rather than hears someone enter the room.

“What are you doing?” Luther questions from the doorway.

“Nothing,” Five answers, stepping in front of the gun attempting to hide it as much as possible.

“What are you doing with Dad’s gun? What’s all this writing on your walls?” 

Luther steps further in the room, walking up to the wall and reading the circled names.

“Who are these people?”

“Um, I’ve narrowed down who’s most likely to cause the apocalypse,” Five answers honestly.

“And your plan is to what? Kill them?” Luther accuses, turning to face Five disappointment in tow.

“I mean a single life to save billions. It makes sense Luther.” Five explains, rubbing a hand along the gun.

“You’ve got to be joking. You know that’s not who we are, who we were made to be.” Luther says condescendingly.

“It’s not about who we are, Luther. It’s about saving the world. Thinking of the greater good.” Five counters, pulling the gun up from the bag.

“I’m not going to let you kill these people.” Luther says, squaring his shoulders.

“You can’t stop me.” Five replies, pulling the rifle strap over his shoulder and allowing his hands to fill with the familiar blue.

Luther swiftly reaches over and grabs Dolores by the throat raising her from her chair and holding her out the open window.

Five growls ripping the gun up to aim at Luther. He knows it doesn’t have to be loaded to be a threat. Luther’s blank face says otherwise.

“I can tell how important she is to you, don’t make me do it, Five.” 

Luther holds her out further.

“Put. Her. Down.” Five demands, voice raised in anger and fear.

“Put the gun down.” Luther orders, voice level without concern.

Before Five gets the chance to respond, Luther is opening his hand. He drops the gun in an instant, spatial jumping to grab Dolores before she falls. Luther picks up the gun from the ground as Five falls back against the edge of his bed, holding Dolores close.

“I know there’s good in you. Otherwise, you would have just left us to die. But you didn’t. There’s got to be another way.”

Luther leaves as Five stares at Dolores’ face. _If this Lance thing doesn’t pan out, I’m screwed._ He thinks, glaring at the spot Luther had been standing. It’s not like he _wanted_ to kill these people, but if it meant saving the world and his family? He’d do just about anything. He feels a tickle in his brain, telling him something’s not right. He chalks it out to just being about the apocalypse and allows himself to fall back into a restless sleep. He supposes if he’s going to interrogate Lance tomorrow he needs to be at his best. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remembered that they don’t have cell phones in the show and I’m like how the heck did I never notice that?? But anyway because of this I have removed Diego’s phone privileges and removed where his phone is mentioned in chapter 2.

The next morning, Five watches Lance as he finishes up walking his dog and heads to his car parked on the side of the road. As soon as the door shuts with Lance in the car, Five spatial jumps into the passenger seat and jams his knife against Lance’s throat. 

“Jesus!” Lance shouts as Five leans close into his face.

“One chance. That’s all you’ve got. One chance to tell me exactly what’s going on in that lab.” Five instructs, staring intimidatingly into Lance’s terrified eyes.

“I… I manufacture prosthetic devices for fake patients. I bill the insurance companies and then sell them for cash on the black market.” Lance answers quickly, eyes darting back and forth between Five’s.

“Including eyeballs?” Five questions.

“Yeah, they’re my biggest seller. I mean they sell like hotcakes. I-I’ve got a list, a waiting list, probably 20 buyers.”

Five huffs.

“So the serial number I told you…” Five snarls.

“Uh, could have already been bought. Yes, off-off the books.” Lance mumbles, trembling against the knife.

“I needed that list, Lance. Names and numbers, and I need it now!” Five demands.

“I don’t have it. I mean, not on me. The only copy’s in my safe at the lab.”

“Well, you start the car, then. ‘Cause we’re going on a field trip.” Five smiles like a predator, sitting back in his seat.

Lance starts the car. He drives for a few minutes in tense silence until he parks down the street from Meritech.

Five pulls Lance along with him down the sidewalk to the building. Suddenly, he smells it, that familiar smell that permeates your clothes. The building slips into his view and it’s ablaze. He runs to it and stops to stare up at it in horror. The front of the building explodes, knocking him back.

He sits up slowly with a grunt. He blinks at the inferno, dazed. His one lead - gone just like that. 

“FUCK!” He screams. 

At the sound of sirens, he forces himself up from the ground. He finds a taxi and jumps himself into it. He tries not to think about there only being four days left as he gets the hell away from the scene.

* * *

Back in his room, he paces the floor. He mumbles to himself as he runs through calculations. He glances at the circled names on his wall.

“I need to find Diego,” Five whispers.

“Diego would probably be cool with taking these people out. Right, Dolores? I mean he’s got the whole vigilante thing going on…”

"But then again, I don't know how I'd convince him they aren't as innocent as they seem."

Dolores doesn’t respond. He paces a few more times before making up his mind to find his brother anyway. He jumps throughout the house. When he finds Allison reading in the living room, he asks her if she’s seen Diego. She answers with a “no.” 

_Maybe he’s at work._ He thinks. Unfortunately, he has no clue where his brother works and when he asks Allison, she doesn’t know either.

"Have you seen Vanya? I upset her the other day..." Allison trails off, guilty expression painted on her face.

Five shakes his head. After a few seconds of standing there, unsure of what to do, he leaves her alone to pace up and down the hallway.

 _That police lady. What was her name? Detective...._ He paces trying to get the name to come back to him. He remembers it being a weird name. He snaps his fingers when the name pops into his head.

“Yes!” He shouts, making his way to the phone. He pulls the receiver from the wall and calls the police department.

“City Police Department, how may I help you?” A voice answers.

“Hi, this is not an emergency. May I please speak to Detective Patch?” Five asks.

“What is this in reference to?”

“I’m looking for my brother and I think she might know where he is.” He explains, twirling the phone cord with his fingers.

“Okay, give me a moment to transfer you.”

After a couple minutes, he finally hears, “Hello, this is Detective Patch, how may I help you?”

“Hi, uh, I’m looking for Diego. Do you know where he is?” Five asks softly.

“Who is this?” Patch questions, suspicion in her voice.

“I’m his brother.”

He hears silence on the other end for a moment. He hopes she doesn’t remember him from Gimble’s.

“What’s your name?” She finally asks.

“Uh-Klaus Hargreeves.” Five answers with a grimace.

“Okay...Klaus, you should check the boxing gym, he works there. Here I’ll give you the address.”

Five memorizes the address and thanks the detective before hanging up. Thankfully the gym isn’t too far away so he heads out on foot. 

His nose scrunches as he steps into the gym. The smell of sweat is bad, but he supposes he’s smelled worse things. He looks around, no sight of Diego anywhere. There’s two men in the ring practicing and one older man standing outside of it yelling at them. The rest of the gym is empty. 

Five sighs and heads to the middle of the room to the boxing ring.

“Uh, excuse me?” Five asks, clearing his throat.

“What do you want?” The old man questions, looking Five up and down.

“I’m looking for my brother Diego.”

“Diego, that bastard, tell him if he skips out on work again he’s outta here!” The man shouts, turning his back on Five.

“Diego, didn’t come to work?”

The man glances back at Five. At the boy’s worried face, the man says, “He lives in the boiler room in the back. You can check there if you’d like. The idiot might be sleeping.”

Five seriously doubts that but thanks the man nonetheless and heads to the back.

He finds a door at the end of the hall. The door is slightly ajar. Five knocks on it and calls out Diego’s name. At no response, he steps inside. 

_This is definitely Diego’s room._ He thinks, noticing the framed costume mask on the wall. He turns to look at the rest of the room and finds it a mess. It looks like there was a struggle. His heart races as he investigates the room. There’s blood on the floor. A knife in the wall.

“Shit shit shit,” Five mumbles.

“Dammit, Diego, what have you gotten yourself into?”

* * *

Back at the house he explains the situation to Allison, Luther, and Klaus as they sit on the couch. They glance at the archway as Vanya enters the room.

“Vanya-” Five starts but stops himself at the sight of a man entering the room behind Vanya.

“Hey, guys, this is Leonard, he’s my boyfriend.” She introduces, motioning to the man.

Leonard awkwardly bows and smiles widely at them. Five feels a chill run down his spine. He doesn’t know what it is about the guy, but something’s off. 

“Hi again, Allison.” He says with a wave.

Allison smile doesn't reach her eyes. Five quirks an eyebrow at his sister.

"What's going on?" Vanya asks.

Allison glances at Leonard.

“It's a uh family matter.” She answers.

"A family matter. So of course you couldn't bother to invite me." Vanya says as if she couldn't expect anything less of them.

"No, it's not like that-" Luther starts.

"Please, don't let me interrupt." She says quickly, walking away.

Five jumps in front of Vanya. She jerks back in surprise. Leonard watches him with a strange intensity.

“Wait, Vanya, please,” Five begs, grabbing her arm.

She glances at him with hurt in her eyes. She pushes his hand off of her arm.

“Diego’s missing.” He whispers, trying to look her in the eyes but she stares in the distance behind him.

She shrugs.

“I’m sure he’s fine. He disappears like this all the time. Just because you think you're close to him, doesn't mean he won't leave you the first chance he gets,” Vanya says spitefully.

Five steps back, his face pinched in hurt. 

"That doesn't mean he isn't-" Five starts.

“I have to say, I agree with Vanya.” Luther interrupts as he steps up near them.

“What a surprise.” She deadpans.

Vanya walks away shaking her head. Leonard stands there for a moment longer smiling. He turns and follows Vanya out of the house. Ignoring whatever the hell that was, Five turns to Allison who stands next to Luther. She shrugs back at him. He flares his nostrils.

"What about you, Klaus?" He yells to Klaus who's still sitting on the couch.

"It would be just like our dear brother Diego to just go gallivanting off." He says as he lays back on the couch.

“Gallivanting off? His room was destroyed!"

When he receives no reaction he responds with, "Great. Glad I could count on you all to worry about your own brother.” 

He spatial jumps upstairs and into Diego's old room.

“You better be okay,” Five mumbles, looking around the room for any kind of clue.

When he comes up empty, he sits on Diego’s bed. His hands shake as he digs them into the comforter. He decides he has nothing better to do than to wait until Diego gets back.

He doesn’t even realize he has nodded off, until he wakes with a jolt at his name being called.

“Five, this was slid under the front door.” Klaus says, handing a note over to his little brother.

 _We have your brother._ The note reads, with an address scrawled on the bottom.

“Does this mean what I think it means?” Klaus asks.

Five shrugs, pocketing the note. He attempts to hide his anxious face but Klaus catches it.

“Five, what-”

Before Klaus can finish his sentence, Five disappears from the room.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was the hardest to write so far because it could have gone one of two ways. Both ways had their own pros and cons, but I believe this way will end up working out the best. Hope y'all enjoy!

Five stalks up the stairs to the fourth floor of the hotel. He feels fear constrict in his chest as the night turns cold, he’s surrounded by darkness, only the small lights above the hotel room doors guiding him. He prays that Klaus had found the note as soon as it was delivered and that Diego isn’t in a hotel room dead. He blinks the image of Diego’s dead body from his head.  _ Not the time.  _

He passes room 429, 430, 431. He stops in front of 432, it’s the one that had been written on the note. He leans his head against the door, attempting to hear inside. He hears nothing but his own erratic heartbeat. He tries to peek into the room but the lights are off. He takes a deep breath, clenches his fists, and jumps to the other side of the door. He immediately finds Diego to the side of the door. He’s tied to a chair, his hands and legs are tied to the arms and feet of the chair and he has a strip of tape on his mouth. He’s looking at Five in shock and horror. He shakes his head sharply. His hair is wet and matted to his forehead. There’s blood trailing down his face and purple bruises on his neck. 

“Diego, it’s going to be okay,” Five whispers, pulling the knife from his pocket and quickly making work on Diego’s tied arms. 

Diego’s body wiggles in the chair back and forth. Five meets his eyes. Diego is motioning to the bathroom. He’s shaking his head. Five gulps, gently pulling the tape from Diego’s mouth. He winces as it pulls at his skin.

“Five, you get out of here right now.” Diego whispers, his voice rough and coarse. 

Five shakes his head in refusal and bends down to start on Diego’s legs. A gun cocks from the darkness at the back of the room. Pink Mask and Blue Mask are standing right outside of the bathroom with their pistols pointed on Five. He can barely see them through the dark. Blue Mask flicks the light on, blinding Five and Diego.

“Five, I am begging you, get the hell out of here.” Diego pleads.

Five’s finger twitches.

“Back away from your brother, boy.” Pink Mask instructs.

Five doesn’t move from his crouch.

“Are you deaf? Move away now, slowly, or your brother’s brains are gonna paint the goddamn wall!” Blue Mask shouts.

Five flinches and slowly stands from his crouch, turning his back on his brother and holding his hands in the air. He takes a small step forward.

“Drop the knife,” The woman orders.

Five drops it, he can barely hear his brother begging him to leave over his heart beating loudly in his chest.

“I assume you two work for The Handler?” Five guesses and by the stiffening of their bodies he knows he’s guessed right.

“We’ll be asking the questions, you little shit.” Pink Mask snarls. 

“You know, you guys would be scarier if you didn’t have such hideous masks,” Five taunts, a smile straining on his face.

“Is that so?” Blue Mask asks, as he cocks his gun and shoots it at a spot on the wall next to Diego’s head.

Five screams, Diego’s dead body flashing before his eyes. He falls to his knees, hands raised.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please.” He begs, arms shaking in the air.

Diego has his freed hands covering his ears, the sound had been deafening. Dust from the wall falls onto his head.

“Get the hell up and come over here.” Pink Mask orders.

Five does as he’s told, getting up on trembling legs and walking slowly to the assassins.

“Should I call the boss?” Blue Mask asks his partner.

“Yeah, go ahead, keep an eye on knife boy.” She answers, before reaching over and grabbing a fistful of Five’s hair.

He grimaces as she yanks him until her masked face is right in his.

“Scary enough for you?” Pink Mask snarls, banging him back against the wall.

She uses her pistol to lift his chin up. It digs into his neck.

“No!” He hears Diego shout and attempt to rip his legs from the chair.

“You’ve caused us a ridiculous amount of problems.” She says, rubbing the side of the gun against his cheek as he flinches at the touch.

“Alright, I called her. Should be here any moment.” The man informs as he keeps his gun aimed on Diego who’s watching Pink Mask’s every move.

His face is twisted in pure hatred, but he remains silent in fear of his brother’s life. He wishes more than anything that Five would have just left him here. Five glances over at him, as if he had read his mind. His lip twitches up slightly as if he thinks it will comfort Diego. He quickly flickers his eyes back to Pink Mask, but as he does everything goes still. He looks over at Blue Mask who’s still as a statue and Diego who’s not blinking.

“Clever little trick isn’t it?” A woman purrs from the other side of Pink Mask. 

Five takes the moment and steals the pistol from Pink Mask’s hand and steps out from the wall, aiming the gun at the woman. She’s dressed a weird way for someone who’s been sending assassins to kill him, Five thinks. She’s wearing tall bright red high heels, a black dress, and a fishnet veil. She pulls the veil up and sets it on top of her head. Her red lips curve as she smiles sharply at him.

“Why hello there little Five.” She hums, placing her hands on her hips.

“I gotta say, when I had people looking into you, I imagined you’d be a bit...older.” She says, looking him up and down, sizing him up.

“Who the hell are you? Why are you trying to kill me?” He asks, steadying his trembling hand against the pistol.

“Oh, no, no, Five, you’ve got it all wrong. I mean at one point we were trying to...remove you from the equation, but no, we’ve seen your tenacity and your grit and we need more of that back at the Commission.” She says, red fingernails tapping on her waist.

“The Commission?”

“We’re an organization tasked with the preservation of the time continuum through manipulation and removals.” She explains.

“I don’t understand.” He says, shaking his head.

“Sometimes people...make choices that alter time. Free will, don’t get me started,” She shrugs.

“Well, when that happens we dispatch one of our agents to...eliminate the threat.” She moves her hands from her hips to imitate shooting a pistol.

“I.e. me?” He questions, tightening his grip on the gun.

“At one point yes, but no longer. You survived a year in the worst of times, no one back at headquarters could have possibly made it out the way you did. In fact the one agent we did send after you, never came back, did he?” Five shudders at that, finger twitching against the gun.

She continues with, “That and your ability to jump through time has intrigued us. Anyway, what I mean to say is, I thought maybe we could come to some sort of an agreement.”

“An agreement?” He questions, squinting his eyes in suspicion.

“Yes, you come to work for us at the Commission and you won’t have to worry about that whole apocalypse thing anymore.” She explains, hand reaching up to touch her hair.

“You'll put an end to it?” He inquires softly, lowering the gun.

“Ah, even I can’t stop the apocalypse, it was meant to happen.” The Handler answers, a twinkle in her eye.

“So what do you say?” She asks, searching his eyes for an answer.

He looks over at his injured brother, face stuck in worry and fear.

“What about my family?”

“What about them?” She snorts, checking the time on her watch.

“I want them to survive.” He growls.

She glances over at Diego’s frozen face and asks, “All of them?”

“Yes, all of them.” He answers with a glare.

She pulls the veil back down over her face.

“Well, I’ll see what I can do.”

She holds her hand out for him to shake.

He shoots her instead.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re getting close to the end guys EEEEEK :0 Based off of yalls reactions I’d say I chose to go the right direction hahaha. Sorry for the cliffhanger!! Warning for mention of suicide right after “Five watches him with curious eyes.”

Time begins again. The Handler disappears with a bright light. Five’s head is empty as he shoots Pink Mask next three times. He turns before Blue Mask has the chance to blink and shoots him. He shoots until the gun clicks empty. 

He can barely hear Diego screaming his name over the ringing in his ears.

“Five! We have to get out of here!” Diego yells, bending to try to remove the zip tie from his leg.

Five mindlessly walks across the floor. He drops the gun and picks up the knife on the ground. He looks at it for a moment. Diego watches his brother’s bloody face as it stares into the knife’s glinting surface. 

“Five?”

“I had to kill them.” He mumbles to himself.

“Hey. Hey, look me in the eyes right now.” Diego’s scratchy voice says softly.

Five blinks over at his brother.

“You had to kill them.” Diego reassures, eyes serious.

“I need you to get me out of these.” He says, legs pulling at the ties.

Five nods, crouching in front of his brother and using the knife to snap the zip ties away. Diego stands up, lifting his brother up with him. He pulls the fourteen year old into a tight hug. The knife clatters to the ground as Five’s hands fall slack at his side.

“It’s going to be okay,” Diego promises, setting his face on top of Five’s bloody hair.

He pulls away and holds Five out by the shoulders to look him in the eyes.

“The police are going to get here soon. We have to get out of here.” Diego says softly. 

He reaches down to collect the knife. He recognizes it as he quickly pockets it. A conversation for another time, he thinks. He glances up at Five as he stands up. His eyes are glassy.

“Okay, let me get that pistol. We need to try to get rid of our prints.” Diego calmly tells himself.

He pockets the gun in the waistband of his pants. He looks around the room trying to figure out what else they may have touched. His eyes catch on a note on the dresser. 

_Reassignment: Protect Harold Jenkins._ The paper reads, he pockets it.

“Okay, just the chair right?” He asks himself.

He considers that the assassins might have his DNA under their fingernails from torturing him. Although, he thinks, most of the torture involved punching, strangling, and water-boarding so it’s possible they’re safe. He prays that they’re safe.

“Alright, Five, is there any way you can get us out of here?” Diego asks gently.

Five grabs his hand in response. Diego nods, bending down quickly to pocket the zip ties and tape. He checks the floor. When he can’t see any blood around the chair, he picks it up with his free hand.

Five jumps them down to the parking lot and immediately passes out. Diego drops the chair to grab Five before he hits the ground.

“Shit,” He hisses. 

He gently sets Five down on the concrete. He picks up the chair and quickly runs to the dumpster, tossing it in. He curses again at the sound of sirens in the distance.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” He tells himself, running back to his brother.

He gently picks him up and holds him to his chest. One arm under his brother’s skinny legs and one under his skinny arms. Diego takes a deep breath and quickly starts the walk back to the house. He twists through alleyways, using the darkness to his advantage. 

“It’s going to be okay,” Diego repeats, tightening his hold on his brother protectively.

  
  


* * *

Five wakes to the bright sun piercing through his bedroom window. He breathes softly for a moment before the night’s events rush back to him. He gasps, sitting up. Across from his bed, Diego is asleep in his chair, with Dolores in his arms. Five blinks at that trying to remember how he got back home. He remembers shooting and then everything going black. He gulps, an image of blood flashing in his head. He touches his face, it feels clean. He looks back at his brother. His bruises are stark against his skin, but he looks clean too. His hair looks soft instead of greasy. He stares at him for a few minutes, attempting to replace the image of dead Diego with this clearly breathing Diego. 

“Why are you creepily staring at me?” Diego questions as he wakes with a yawn.

Five blinks back.

“Ah, shit, I’m not making you jealous, am I?” Diego asks, removing Dolores from his lap to set her on the ground.

Five rolls his eyes, picks up his pillow, and chucks it at his brother. Diego quickly blocks it.

“Hey! I’m trying to be nice!” Diego defends with a chuckle. 

He stands from the chair and stretches.

“Why didn’t you sleep in your own bed, idiot? You had to have been tied up for hours, how the hell was it comfortable for you to sleep in that chair?”

“It wasn’t.” Diego shrugs, his neck popping as he rolls his head.

Five flushes. The thought of someone caring about him makes him feel weirdly shy. He collapses into himself folding his arms across his chest and bending his head, his hair covering his face. He feels his bed dip as Diego sits on the edge of it.

“Are you okay?” His brother asks softly.

Five rips his head up at that.

“Me? You were tortured!” Five yells, eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

“Which was because of me, by the way,” He adds.

“No actually, it was because of some psychos.” Diego corrects.

“Besides it ended up being worth it.” Diego continues, reaching into his pocket.

Five’s face turns angry and he opens his mouth to retort. It clamps shut at the paper Diego sets in front of him. He picks it up and quickly reads it. _Reassignment: Protect Harold Jenkins._

He looks up at Diego in surprise.

“We’ve finally got our big break,” Diego says with a smile, patting his brother on the leg.

“You think this guy-”

“Could be the cause of the apocalypse? Absolutely.”

Five smiles like a child at Christmas. He lets out a sigh of relief and wipes at his eyes as a few tears escape.

“Harold Jenkins, huh?”

“Harold Jenkins.” Diego confirms.

“Let’s go find the asshole and finish this.” Diego says as he stands up.

Five nods, pulling himself out from under the covers.

“You get changed and I’ll go make you some food.” 

Diego leaves the room. As soon as he’s gone, Five blinks and sees blood. He takes a deep breath and quickly changes. He allows the anxiety in his chest to turn to excitement at the very real possibility of stopping the apocalypse.

“Later, Dolores!” He yells, bounding out of the room before she can respond. 

He jumps down to the kitchen. He finds Diego at the stove talking to none other than Grace.

“Mom?” Five asks in confusion.

She turns to him, a look akin to panic flashing through her eyes.

“Uh, Five, Pogo fixed Mom up.” Diego supplies, watching his brother with careful eyes.

Five nods. 

“I started some pasta for you, if you want to finish it. I’m gonna take Mom for a quick walk.” 

Five quirks an eyebrow at that, but mumbles out a “thank you” and steps up to the stove to watch the pot. He listens to the click clack of Grace’s heels as she follows Diego out of the room.

 _I wonder what the hell that was about. Diego was definitely acting weirder than normal._ He thinks, stirring the noodles.

As he stirs the pot, he feels his head going to another place. He hears the gunshot. He sees the Handler’s surprised face. She was offering to help him, why’d he shoot her? And then the assassins, he could have probably just knocked them out and called the cops. Why’d he kill them? Especially without mercy. He had unloaded the gun into Blue Mask. He tries to remind himself that they tortured his brother and tried to kill him, but his head focuses on the blood as it spurted from their bodies. He hisses coming back to the present when boiling water splashes his arm.

“Uh, Five?” He hears behind himself.

He flinches, turning to the voice as if caught in an act.

“Hi, Allison,” He greets with a fake smile.

“Are you okay?” She asks gently.

“Of course, why do you ask?”

“Well, because Diego carried you in last night while you were covered in blood and he looked like he’d been beat within an inch of his life.”

“He had been.” Five says, glowering at Allison.

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to-”

“I don’t think I’m the one you should be apologizing to.” Five says, turning back to the stove.

He uses a fork to test if the noodles are soft enough. He reaches over the steaming water and turns off the stove.

“I know you’re upset with me, but Diego mentioned to me last night that you guys found something that could be a lead and...I’d like to help.”

He turns back to her ready to turn down her offer. He feels his anger fall at her guilty expression.

“Okay,” He says, picking up the pot and moving to the sink to dump the hot water.

She silently gets a bowl down for him and sets it on the counter next to the sink. He nods at her and dumps the pasta into the bowl.

“His name is Harold Jenkins.” He informs, pouring some sauce over the noodles.

He jumps with the bowl to a chair at the table.

“Who’s name?” She asks, following him to the table.

“The guy who ends the world.” He says, smiling through his mouthful of pasta.

Allison hums at that. She sits next to him in silence as he eats. He can’t help but admit to himself that it feels nice to not be alone.

* * *

Allison and Five’s silence is eventually broken by Klaus yelling “Family meeting!” as he drags a particularly rough looking Luther in behind him.

Allison looks at Luther with worry in his eyes, he shakes his head in response.

“Where’s Diego?” Klaus asks.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Five says sarcastically.

Before Klaus can respond, Diego enters the room looking shaken.

“Guys, I just found out something big.” He mumbles taking the other seat next to Five. 

“Me too!” Klaus shouts, clapping his hands.

Luther grumbles as he sits down.

“Here, I’ll make coffee for ya, big guy.” Klaus says, hopping over to the counter.

“I want some too.” Five says.

“Uh-I’ll go first I guess,” Diego starts.

Five watches him with curious eyes.

“Dad killed himself…” 

“Oh my god, that was my news too!” Klaus laughs.

“You’re lying.” Luther growls.

Five eyebrows are scrunched as are Allison’s.

“Master Klaus and Master Diego are correct.” Pogo says from the archway.

The siblings all turn in their seats to look at him.

“Regretfully, I helped Master Hargreeves enact his plan.” Pogo continues, eyes downcast as he rubs at his arm.

“What?” Luther questions.

“So did Grace. It was a difficult choice for both of us. More difficult than you could ever know. Prior to your father’s death, Grace’s programming was...adjusted so that she was incapable of administering first aid on that fateful night.”

Five quirks his eyebrow at that.

“So the security tape we saw?” Luther asks.

“Security tape?” Five repeats, perking up.

“You weren’t in any of them.” Allison says softly, rubbing her hand on his arm.

Pogo sighs.

“It was meant to further the murder mystery. Your father hoped that being back here, solving it together...would reignite your desire to be a team again.”

“And to what end?” Diego asks.

“To save the world, of course.” Pogo answers as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Ha, alright.” Klaus laughs, turning back to the coffee maker.

“First the Moon mission and now this. You watched me search for answers and said nothing. Anything else you want to share, Pogo? Any other damn secrets?” Luther questions, face twisted in indignation.

Pogo glances at Five so quickly that he feels like he imagined it.

“It was his dying wish, Master Luther. I had no choice.” Pogo replies defensively.

“There’s always a choice.” Luther retorts, stomping away.

“Finished that coffee.” Klaus says with a grimace.

Five pats the space on the table in front of him.

“I’m gonna go check on him…” Klaus says as he sets the coffee pot down in front of Five. 

Five turns in his seat, watching him leave. Pogo’s gone too.

“I can’t think about this right now,” Five mumbles, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

He chugs the cup and sets it back down on the table, empty.

“First and foremost, we need to get info on Harold Jenkins. Then I can ruminate on what this whole thing with Dad means.” He says, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I know where we can find that info.” Diego smirks, patting Five’s back as he gets up from the seat.

“Alright, let’s get to it then.” Allison says, getting up from her chair as well.

Five nods, quickly pouring himself another cup and downing it.

* * *

In the car, Diego tells them that he has connections in the police department so they head there first. While Diego is inside, Five and Allison wait outside the building. Allison tries to call Vanya on a pay phone, while Five leans against the wall of the station.

“Hi, Vanya, it’s Allison. I-uh-I was just calling because...well things have gotten so messed up lately. All I’ve ever wanted to be is a good sister to you, but I guess I’ve pretty much failed at that. Anyway, call me back. I love you, sis.” 

Allison sets the phone back on the receiver just as Diego returns with a folder in his hand.

“You’re welcome.” He says with a smirk, waving the folder.

Allison snatches it from his hand and opens it. She flips through the papers. Her eyes widen as she mumbles, “Oh my god.”

“What?” Diego and Five ask simultaneously.

“Harold Jenkins is Leonard Peabody…” She says, holding up the photo for her brothers to see.

Five’s eyes widen. He had known in his gut something was wrong with that guy.

“That means Vanya could be in trouble.” Five gasps.

“We’ve got his address right here.” Diego says pointing at the page.

The siblings nod to each other and head back to the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you all can probably tell, I know nothing about crime scenes hahaha. But we're just gonna pretend like Diego and Five's prints are miraculously nowhere to be found.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so this is the big one. Saying this, there is also a big warning for this chapter which will be placed in the end note to avoid spoilers. This chapter goes to a very dark place that may be unexpected. The end note will also contain a recap if you need to skip the chapter because of the warning that will be placed there.

Diego parks the car outside of Harold Jenkins's house. 

“Looks like a normal house to me,” He says, shutting his door.

“Don’t underestimate him.” Allison warns, stepping into the grass.

Five jumps himself out of the passenger seat to stand next to Diego.

“Let’s go,” Allison says, heading up towards the house.

“Uh- wait a second.” Diego says as he stops and turns to his brother.

“Diego, we don’t have-”

Diego holds a finger up and Allison turns quiet. The look on his face has her holding her hands up in defeat. She crosses her arms and steps away from them attempting to give them some privacy.

“What’s this about Diego?” Five questions.

Diego answers by pulling the knife from his pocket. Five stares at it as it gleams in the sunlight.

“Where’d you get this?” Diego asks, holding the hilt in one hand and running a finger down the blade with the other.

“I-uh...I wanted something to remember you by.” Five answers, blinking quickly and looking away from Diego’s eyes.

“You can have it back-” He continues, shrugging as if it’s not a big deal.

“Hey,” Diego starts, bending to his brother’s height.

“It’s yours. I would have wanted you to have it. For me to be with you, even when I was gone, and be protecting you, there’s nothing I would have wanted more.” Diego says with a soft smile.

He picks Five’s hand up and sets the knife in it. The fourteen year old stares at him for a moment. Suddenly, the breath is knocked out of him as Five rams into him, head first. 

“Wow!” Diego exclaims, with a chuckle.

He returns the hug, wrapping his arms around his brother tightly.

“This is very sweet you guys, but we should probably get into the house before Jenkins gets back…” Allison suggests.

Diego releases Five with a squeeze.

“Let’s do this. The three amigos.” Diego says with a wide smile.

When they reach the front door, Diego starts rattling off a plan, to which Allison ignores him and walks away.

“What the hell, where’s she going? We’re supposed to stick together!” Diego shouts to his sister that likely cannot hear him.

Five shrugs, jumping to the other side of the front door and opening it for his brother.

“Thanks, kiddo.” Diego says, patting his brother on the head earning him a glare.

When Allison enters the room, Diego tells them to call out if they find anything. They all branch off, Allison heading upstairs, Diego to the kitchen, and Five to the room next to it. Five inspects the dining room. He rifles through the papers on the table for a few minutes until he hears Allison call, “Guys, you’re going to want to see this!”

Five and Diego quickly run out of the rooms and up the stairs. Allison stands at the bottom of the attic stairs with a look of horror on her face.

“This way,” She directs, leading them up the stairs. 

“What. The. Hell.” Diego stares in disgust.

There are figurines of all of them with their faces melting off and pictures with the faces scratched out.

“This was never about Vanya, this was about us…” Allison realizes in alarm.

“Wait a second...That’s me.” Five recognizes, pointing at one of the figures.

His brows scrunch as he picks the item up, holding it close to his face.

“I don’t think that’s you, buddy.” Diego says softly.

“No,” Five argues, looking up at his brother in irritation, “It is.”

“Something fishy’s been going on ever since I got here and I’m about to find out what the hell it is. We’re going home. Now.” Five demands, jumping out of the room.

* * *

“What do you think’s going on?” Diego asks from the driver’s seat.

He glances back and forth from the road to his brother.

“I have a sneaking suspicion that Pogo knows. That bastard’s been looking at me funny since Dad’s funeral.”

Five clenches his jaw as he stares out the window.

“Pogo?” Diego asks for confirmation.

“Yes, eyes on the road.”

* * *

“So what’s the plan?” Diego questions as he puts the car in park.

He turns in his seat to look at both Five and Allison.

“The plan is for you two to keep looking for Vanya and I’ll catch up with you soon. We don’t have any time to waste. We are so close, I can feel it.” Five says, unbuckling his seat-belt.

“We’ve got three days. Three.” Five reminds them, holding up three fingers. 

“Okay, well I think we should find Luther and Klaus. We could use extra muscle, just to be safe. I mean we died trying to end this thing the last time.” Diego adds, looking to Allison for her opinion.

“You get Luther and Klaus, I’m going to keep looking for Vanya. Jenkins had another relation in the report, a grandmother. I'm going to check her place.” She says as she unbuckles.

“Okay, but if you find Jenkins do not under any circumstances go after him. Understand? You call us and we’ll be there to back you up.”

Diego stares at Allison to ensure she gets the message.

“I understand. I’ll keep you guys updated,” She says getting out of the backseat and closing the door.

Five watches her in the mirror as she walks down the street to her own car.

“I’ll be back to pick you up in a bit, okay?” Diego tells his brother, patting him on the leg.

“Alright, uh-be safe.” Five replies, attempting to keep his voice from sounding as anxious as he feels.

“I hope you find the answers you’ve been looking for.” Diego whispers, face earnest as ever.

Five gulps and with a small wave, he spatial jumps into the house. He jumps throughout the rooms looking for Pogo. When he can’t find him, he settles on stopping in the living room where he last saw Grace dusting.

“Hi Mom,” He greets from behind her.

He watches as her back stiffens.

“Oh, hello, dear.” She answers, not looking away from the shelves she’s dusting.

“I’m glad Pogo was able to fix you up. Speaking of which, have you seen him?” Five questions, leaning his body up against the shelf to get a look at her face that she’s diligently attempting to hide.

“No I do not believe I have.” She answers, still refusing to look at him.

“Okay, I have a question for you then.” He says, folding his arms across his chest.

“What that’s, dear?” She asks, busying herself with dusting the already clearly dust free shelf.

“Can you look at me first?” His voice is low as if he expects her to lash out at him for such a question.

He sees her hesitate. She slowly sets the duster down and turns to face Five with a wide smile.

“What can I do for you, dear?”

“I know you took my book.” He says slowly.

“What do you mean, sweetheart?” She asks, cocking her head to the side.

“It’s okay that you did. But please, if there’s any shred of love for me somewhere inside of you, I am begging you to give it back and tell me what the hell is going on here.”

“I-” Her smile falters and she blinks in a quick succession.

“Please, Mom. I can’t do this anymore. It’s tearing me apart not knowing what went wrong.” He begs softly, eyes tearing up.

She looks into the distance, face deep in thought.

“If it’s against your programming or something- you don’t have to tell me. Show me where or write it down, I don’t care, just please help me.”

“Please.” He touches his hand to her arm and looks up at her. He considers how pitiful he must look to her, but he’s beyond the point of caring.

She takes a step away from him and starts to leave the room. He feels despair claw at his lungs. Then, she looks back at him with something he hasn’t seen in a long time. Recognition. He gulps, following her out of the living room. 

She leads him to Reginald’s office. She stops at the far corner of the room, behind the desk. She quickly glances over at him in guilt, whether it’s for him or his father he isn’t certain. She reaches down and pulls up the corner of the large rug covering most of the floor. She pulls up a board, revealing a latch. She twists it and pulls, a portion of the floor coming up uncovering a large safe. She enters a code and the safe opens with a hiss. She steps aside and Five hesitates for only a moment before stepping forward and looking into the safe. There his book sits, along with photos of him and his siblings that had been hung when they were children. Some toys and old books that used to sit on his desk were also carelessly shoved at the bottom.

He stumbles back, gaping at Grace in horror.

“What is this?” He gasps.

“What does this mean?” He asks, voice raised in alarm.

Grace sucks in a deep breath as she calmly reaches down and picks up Vanya’s book from his pile of things. She quietly flips through it as he watches her, his face twitching.

She steps over to him and gently picks up his hand to set the open book in it. Behind his equations, he reads the words at the start of the page.

“Allison was the most self-absorbed of all of us. She used her powers to get whatever she wanted. She rumored Dad to get out of training, Diego to eat five donuts, Five to stop jumping into her room, Klaus to stop talking for a whole day. Are there lengths she wouldn’t go to get what she wants? I hope so. But then again, if I had been rumored, would I even know?”

Five drops the book out of his hands like he’d been burnt.

“He wouldn’t-” He gasps, looking up at Grace as tears fill his eyes.

“Your father-”

“No. No. Why? Why would he do this to me?” He sobs, pulling at his hair as he falls to the floor in agony.

Grace reaches out, then retracts her hand. She holds it to her lips as tears fill her own eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” She whispers.

He doesn’t hear her as he jumps, leaving the book laying on the ground. He reappears back in his room and bites his fist, attempting to stifle his sobs.

“Hey, Five.”

Five startles at the man sitting casually in his chair. The man wrings his hands together as he looks up from his lap to Five’s confused, teary face. Five jolts at the state of the face looking back at him. One eye is heavily bruised and the other...is covered with a bandage. Five glances over at the prosthetic eye sitting on his nightstand. His heart beats wildly in his chest.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Five questions, hands glowing blue in defense. 

“Aww, looks like you’ve been crying. Rough day?” The man taunts, face stretched into a smirk.

“Rough year,” Five corrects with a fake smile on his face.

“My name’s Harold Jenkins, although I’m sure you already knew that.”

Five blinks at that, this guy is far more confident than the one Vanya introduced them to. Although, Five thinks he can still take him down. He’s not much, doesn’t look like he’s worked out a day in his life.

“Don’t underestimate me, Five.” Harold says with a wide grin on his face. He stands from the chair wiping imaginary dust from his shoulders and stretching his neck.

Five takes a step back.

“You know I can stab you within a millisecond, right?” Five warns, reaching into his pocket.

“Why don’t you go for it?” Harold teases.

That’s all Five needs to wrap time and space around himself and jump behind Harold, knife poised for the kill. Before his arm can even swing, a wave of agony forces him to crumple to the ground as his knife slides out of his reach. 

“Did you really think I came unprepared?” Harold taunts, bending down to grab Five roughly by the hair.

He pulls him up until he's tiptoeing on the floor. Five blinks as a phantom shock trembles through his body. He reaches a hand up to pull at Harold's, but it's slapped away.

“I know everything about you Five, including your weaknesses," Harold says, waving a taser in Five's face.

"Your daddy wrote quite the glowing recommendation on you in his little diary. He called you a ‘cocky little bastard’ so many times I thought it had to be an exaggeration, but now I see he was telling the truth,” Harold grins, eyes shifting from Five’s face down to his glowing hands.

That’s all the warning Five gets before he’s being electrocuted again. He falls to his back, limbs twitching in exertion.

“You shouldn’t have gotten in my way, Five. You should have stayed in the future like your dad wanted.”

“Dad did-didn-” Five stutters, writhing on the floor.

“What? Did you really think he didn’t know telling you not to do something would result in the exact opposite? Did you think he thought a _cocky little bastard_ like you wouldn’t do the exact thing he told you not to? He was getting you out of the way because he knew you’d just screw something up like you always do and here you are proving him right even after death.”

Five’s eyes screw up at that, his fingers twitching for his powers. Harold tuts at him and gently sets his foot on top of Five’s left hand. 

“No. Please.” Five begs, eyes blown in fear as he stares up at the man above him.

“You’re not going to stop the end of the world. I won’t let you.”

With that, a sickening crunch echoes throughout the room. Five screams, pulling at Harold’s pants with his other hand attempting to get him off. 

“Shut up!” Harold yells, punching the boy in the face.

Five’s face whips to the side and he spits blood. Harold steps off of his hand and Five immediately pulls it to his chest, cradling it with his unbroken hand.

“You see, when Vanya came to me telling me about the little brother from the future who she couldn’t remember, I wasn’t surprised. You want to know why?”

Five stares up at him defiantly.

“Because your father wrote his little plan down. What he made Allison do. Poor girl has no clue.” He chuckles.

Five reaches for his powers again, whimpering as his broken fingers clench.

“You just don’t know when to give up do you?” Harold tuts.

He hits Five with the taser again. The boy twitches as his body falls slack in exhaustion.

“You’re going to be a good little boy for me and you’re going to be quiet,” Harold says menacingly, pulling his belt from his pants.

_“Be a good little boy for me Five.”_

Five’s lungs stutter and he uses his feet to push himself away from Harold.

_Five pushes himself away until his back rams into something. His leg is grabbed in a tight hold and he’s ripped back across the dirt._

Harold grabs his leg and pulls him back towards him. Five screams for Diego and is quieted with another punch. His head bangs on the ground and he sees black stars but he also sees the knife laying there.

“You know I had planned on just killing you and getting it over with. But, I think it’d be much more fun for you to watch the world go up in flames. Don’t you?”

_Five screams for help but is cut off with a punch to his already swollen face._

_“No one’s going to hear you.”_

_He sees stars but across the sand just barely out of reach he sees a glint. His brother’s knife._

_He kicks as his legs are forcefully separated._

He feels his legs being pulled together roughly. He feels the belt wrapping around them.

_He feels his pants being pulled down._

_He feels the tears slide down his grimy face._

He feels the tears slide down his face as Harold pulls the tie from his uniform and wraps it around his mouth and tightens.

“You should see the things Vanya can do. She’s stronger than all of you. I can’t imagine what would happen if one of you were to go after her while she’s in the state she’s in.”

_His vision goes black._

_He feels_ _everything._

He feels Harold pull his belt from his shorts. He feels him pulling his broken hand away from his chest. He feels him reaching for his other. 

_His hand finds purchase._

His hand finds purchase.

_He stabs Diego’s knife deep into whatever he can reach._

He stabs Diego’s knife deep into whatever he can reach.

_Blood explodes from an artery._

Blood explodes from Harold’s neck.

_The body falls on top of him._

Harold falls on top of him.

_He screams as he pushes it away._

He screams as he pushes him away.

_He pulls up his bloody pants._

He uses his unbroken hand to rip the tie from his mouth and undoes the belt around his legs.

_He spits blood from his mouth._

He spits blood from his mouth.

_And he lays there. Silent. Broken._

And he lays there. Silent. Broken.

He hears footsteps. Three sets of them. He hears gasps.

“Five, what the hell did you do?” He hears Luther.

"Oh my god," Klaus whispers.

“Get the fuck out of here and go find Allison!” Diego yells.

“I said go!”

He hears heavy feet leave followed by a lighter set.

Diego is leaning over him.

“What’d he do to you?” Diego cries, hands hovering in the air.

“Five?”

“Five!”

“What’s wrong?!”

“Please answer me!”

“Are you having a panic attack?”

He feels Diego’s fingers under his neck.

“Okay, okay, you’re breathing that’s good,” Diego whispers to himself.

He hears his brother gasp.

“God, your hand.”

“I don’t know what to do, Five.”

“Please tell me what to do.”

“It’s going to be okay, Five, I promise it’s going to be okay.”

He feels as Diego carefully maneuvers him until he’s in his lap. An arm wraps around his legs, another around his shoulders. His head lulls into Diego’s warm neck. His eyes stare blankly ahead.

He can feel Diego’s shoulders shake as he silently cries. He feels his brother’s hand move up to his face and his hair, gently searching for injuries. He feels tears leak from his own eyes and roll down his bloody face and further down his neck. Diego holds him in his arms, rocking him until his eyes fall shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: This chapter features a scene that heavily alludes to non con. While it is not graphic in nature, it is discussed in a flashback that could be triggering. There is also a scene including a panic attack.
> 
> I understand if you wish to skip this chapter and will write a recap here excluding the scene mentioned above:  
> Diego, Allison, and Five go to Harold's house. Inside they find his creepy shrine with all of their faces burned off. Five notices there's a figurine of himself. Deciding it's time to get to the bottom of things he returns to the house with intentions of talking to Pogo. Diego leaves to find Luther and Klaus while Allison goes on her own to try to find Vanya. She ensures them that she will call and wait for them before confronting Harold. Five cannot find Pogo and decides to settle for talking to Grace. He accuses her of stealing his book and begs her to tell him what's going on. Eventually she gives in and leads him to Reginald's office where it is revealed that there is a safe under the floor containing all of Five's things, including pictures of him with his family and his book. Five reels at this and begs Grace for an explanation. She shows him an excerpt from Vanya's book that mentions Allison's powers and how Vanya likely would not even know if she had been rumored. Five realizes in horror what his father made his sister do and he jumps back to his room where he finds Harold waiting for him. Harold attacks him and tells him about how strong Vanya is and warns that he's unsure what would happen if someone went after her in her current state. Five kills Harold with Diego's knife and has a panic attack. Diego finds him, sending Luther off to go find Allison with Klaus. Diego holds him in his arms until he falls asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thank you so much for all the comments last chapter. You are all amazing!
> 
> Warnings for this chapter: child abuse, discussion of past non con and mention of suicide. The discussion (and mention) starts at “‘I knew in that moment’” and ends at “Diego wipes his face on his sleeve”.

_The door loudly creaking open interrupts Number Five and Number Seven’s conversation. Their giggling dies down as their father steps in followed by a guilty looking Pogo._

_“Number Five!” Reginald shouts from the doorway, face drawn in annoyance._

_“Number Five!” Five mocks from his seat on the bed, wiggling his eyebrows._

_Number Seven giggles from her spot next to him._

_“Number Seven has a contagious illness.” Reginald states, walking towards the bed._

_“Doesn’t seem sick to me.” Five replies, spatial jumping away from the bed just as Reginald was about to grab his arm._

_“Come here, right now.” Reginald orders, reaching to grab the child again._

_Five blinks to a spot just out of reach. Seven laughs loudly from her bed._

_“Do not test me, Number Five. I will not put up with insolence.”_

_Reginald attempts to grab Five one more time, but the boy spatial jumps back on top of the bed. Seven is laughing so hard that she falls over onto her blankets. Five giggles back at her, smile wide at making her laugh. His face quickly drops at the sight of what’s in his father’s hand. Seven goes silent too, her face suddenly pale._

_“How many times have I told you that I will not accept disrespect in this household?” Reginald demands._

_Five gulps, hopping down off of the bed._

_“I-I...I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” Five whispers, hanging his head._

_“No, you won’t.” Reginald assures._

_Five’s vision goes white as he crumples to the floor, body trembling with the aftershock. He can hear Seven scream his name. He’s dragged by the collar out of the room. He blinks sluggishly at his sister, a small smile tugging at his lips to comfort her._

_Once outside the room, Pogo closes the door behind them. Five watches as his sister runs to it and bangs on the window, screaming his name._

He jolts awake, heart beating rapidly in his chest.

“Mom!” He hears Diego yell from somewhere close by.

“He’s waking up! I think he might need more sedative!”

Five shakes his head at that or at least he tries to through the numbness in his body.

“No,” He moans, blinking over at Diego’s blurry face.

He sees Grace step into the room. His head lulls to watch as she checks his vitals.

“He seems to be doing okay at the moment, Diego dear.”

She takes a seat on the edge of the bed and reaches to pull something from her pocket. Five whimpers, flinching away.

“Hey, mom what’s-”

“It’s just a flashlight.” She says, holding it out so that both Five and Diego can see it.

“I’m just going to shine the light in your eyes to make sure there's no head trauma, okay?” She explains gently.

Five nods with a gulp. She leans over him and quickly checks his eyes.

“Pupils seem to be reacting normally.” She says, turning off the light and placing it back into her pocket.

“How do you feel?” Diego asks.

“Numb,” Five croaks.

“You let me know the moment you feel pain, okay?” Grace says, getting up from the bed and quickly leaving the room.

Diego takes her spot, sitting next to Five.

“She-uh-she had to do surgery on your hand.” Diego explains, motioning to the wraps on Five’s hand.

At no response, Diego asks, “How do you really feel?” 

“Like I want to just curl up and die. Like the whole world is falling down on me and I’m trapped and I can’t move and I-” His voice chokes up.

“I just can’t take it anymore.”

Five shivers, pulling the blanket up with his unbroken hand. Diego nods as he turns his head away, attempting to hide the tears building in his eyes. He quickly wipes them away and looks down at his brother in despair.

“I know things are awful right now, but I...I can’t lose you. When I found you, you were covered in b-blood and you were comatose and I thought you were g-gone.” Diego stutters, stifling a sob.

“I’m sorry I scared you, Diego.” Five responds, face blank as he stares at his bandaged hand.

“Don’t you dare apologize to me. You’ve got nothing to apologize for. That sick bastard that did this to you is going to rot in hell.”

Five flinches at the vehemence in Diego’s voice. He glances at the floor, where he had killed Harold. The spot is empty, no stains, as if it had never happened.

“Your hand, that wasn’t all he did, was it?” Diego questions.

Five stares harder at his hand. He can feel pain begin to radiate from it.

“What happened, Five? Where do you go inside your head?”

“Now’s not the time,” Five whispers, his right hand clenching in the comforter.

“Now is the time. Something’s hurting you, I can tell, your face is so far away. It was like that when the assassins broke into the house and it’s like that again now. There’s something you need to get off your chest, there’s something you want to get off your chest.” 

“You know nothing about me Diego.” Five snarls, twisting his body away from his brother.

“I know you don’t want to be mean. You’re just trying to deflect.” Diego says, voice remaining calm and level.

“You don’t know that. You don’t know me. I am mean, Diego. I’m twisted and I’m evil and you should hate me.” He says, turning to lay so that his back is facing his brother.

Diego stares at him silently. He cradles his broken hand to his chest as hot tears roll down his face. He feels Diego stare at him a moment longer before he feels the weight leave his bed. He listens to the footsteps until they leave his room and then he twists his face until it’s deep in his pillow. He sobs, his back trembling.

He feels the weight suddenly return to the bed and he feels a hand rub up and down his back.

“You’re not twisted or evil and I will never hate you.”

Five falls silent at that, trying to listen to Diego through his sobs.

“You’re smart and you’re loving and you’re kind.” His brother says, reaching over to place something on the pillow next to him.

Five turns his head to come face to face with Mr. Pennycrumb.

“You’re a good person, Five, and you don’t deserve to have to carry whatever burden it is that you’re carrying right now.”

Five breathes shakily. He rubs his face on the pillow and then turns his body to lay flat on his back. He feels Diego watching him as a few more tears slip out. 

“I...I had a flashback,” Five mumbles, twitching his broken fingers in morbid curiosity.

He hums at the pain and glances up at his brother’s worried expression.

“A flashback of what?” Diego questions, voice low in a gentle whisper.

Five sucks in a deep, rattling breath. A tremble rolls through his body.

“If you don’t want to tell me-”

“It was the apocalypse.”

Diego goes silent, staring at Five as he fidgets.

“I-I wasn’t alone.”

Diego’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“After I found you all...there was this guy.”

_He jumps into a wasteland._

_He runs to the academy. It’s destroyed._

_He screams Vanya’s name anyway. Then Ben’s. Then his father’s._

_He finds Luther first, a prosthetic eye clasped in a dead hand._

_Diego next, who he shakes to no avail._

_Allison only a few feet away, covered in brick._

_Last Klaus who stares with dead eyes._

_Tears fall down his face as he falls to his knees. He retches. Dry heaves yank the breath from his lungs. When he can finally breathe again he screams, slamming his fist into the ground._

_“Hello?” He hears a voice call. He rips himself from the ground, hope sloshing in his chest._

_But it's not Ben, or Dad, and most certainly not Vanya._

_It’s a middle aged man, dressed in a perfectly tailored suit. Not a speck of dust on him._

_“How did you survive?” Five asks, wiping tears from his face._

_“How did you?” The man asks in return._

_Five tries to slow his breathing, he tries to think of something else, anything else. He closes his eyes, the images of his dead siblings follow him, branded into his brain._

_“Did you know them?”_

_Five answers with a steady “no.” He’s not willing to give away his weaknesses so easily._

_“It’s okay if you did. I found my family too.” The suited man says as a tear falls down his face._

_“I-I need to bury them.” Five mumbles, glancing back at the rubble._

_“Let me help. My name’s Theo, what’s yours?”_

“It took me a few weeks to trust him. Even after I did, I still thought something was off. He was always trying to distract me from my work and he was always asking me weird, personal questions. At the time, I thought he was just lonely. Looking back now, I see things differently. He was funneling information to the people that those assassins work for. I think he was sent to learn all he could about me and try to persuade me from getting back to the past. I put up with him for months, but one day I snapped.” 

Five tightens his hand in the blanket until it turns white.

“I came back from looking for food. Foolishly, I’d left my book behind with Dolores. She had always been warning me about that guy,” He says, shaking his head at himself.

“I came back to the library, where we had set up camp. He was ripping pages out of my book. I started screaming at him, but he didn’t back down like I expected him to. He turned to me with this look in his eyes…” Five’s face pales and he closes his eyes.

“I knew in that moment that he was going to kill me. A hell of a time for me to be stuck alone in an apocalypse without functioning powers, huh? I was starving half to death too, hadn’t slept for days, I was weak and it was easy for him to take me down. He’d hit me over the head with a rock and my vision was shot. I tried to get away, I really did, but there was nothing I could do.”

“I thought he was just going to kill me. God, I wish he had just killed me. But, instead he…”

Five’s eyes flicker back and forth between Diego’s horrified ones.

“He took something from me that I’ll never get back.” Five chokes, curling into himself.

“And, Diego, I-” His voice breaks off into a sob.

“I killed him. And then I-” Five sighs, but it comes out more of a whimper.

He slowly pulls his shirt up with his unbroken hand. There’s a scar in the center of his stomach above his belly button. Diego gasps, tears flowing freely down his face.

“I was going to end it all, I had been struggling for so long. But then...I looked over at Vanya’s book and I imagined your faces when you all saw me again.” 

Diego wipes his face on his sleeve. He reaches over and pulls Five’s shirt down for him. He uses his arms to reach under Five’s and gently pulls him up and into his chest. He softly pushes Five’s head down into the crook of his neck and tightens his hold. Five’s arms wrap around his brother, his broken hand laying gently across Diego’s back and his unbroken hand clenching into his shirt. They both cry on each other, Diego into his little brother’s hair, Five into his older brother’s shoulder.

Five starts to slowly pull away but Diego pulls him back, hugging him as if he will disappear as soon as he lets go. 

“I love you so much and I promise you I will never let someone hurt you again,” Diego whispers into Five’s hair.

The fourteen year old cuddles into his brother’s chest, the fear and anxiety dissipating. He feels his eyes close. He’s seconds from sleep before he remembers the root of all of his problems. The apocalypse. He pulls away from Diego, scanning his brother’s face as he asks, “What day is it?”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just an fyi, the chapter count is not set in stone it’s just my current guesstimate. Warning for another suicide mention between "'What do you mean?' Five questions.." and "Five scans his brother's face."

Diego stiffens at the question. 

“Diego...please, what day is it?” Five repeats, looking up into his brother’s nervous eyes.

“It’s uh, it’s the 30th.” 

“The 30th?! I was out that long? Shit.”

Five feels anxiety beginning to creep back in at the look on Diego’s face.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“I don’t think the apocalypse is over, Five. Harold Jenkins? He was just the fuse...Vanya…”

_“You should see the things Vanya can do. She’s stronger than all of you. I can’t imagine what would happen if one of you were to go after her while she’s in the state she’s in.”_

“She’s the bomb…” Five finishes his sentence, eyes going wide.

“Allison?” He questions, pushing at his brother to get up.

“She’s okay right now-” Diego starts.

“What happened?” Five asks, fear paling his face.

“Her throat was sliced...by Vanya.”

“Fucking fuck,” Five growls, hand reaching up to pull at his hair.

Diego gently grabs his fist into his hand and brings it back down to his side.

“A lot happened while you were out.”

“There’s more? You’re joking.”

At Diego’s mournful gaze, Five goes silent.

“Mom... found Pogo.” Diego says carefully.

“What do you mean?” Five questions, face twisting in confusion.

“When Jenkins attacked you, she had been outside looking for Pogo. She found him in the garden. He...he killed himself.”

“What?” Five gasps.

“I-I think he felt guilty. This whole time...he’s known...everything.” Diego says, averting his gaze to the wall.

Five scans his brother’s face.

“Do you know everything?”

“I...Jenkins had the diary on him.” Diego admits, rubbing his hand up and down his arm to comfort himself. 

“Five, I’m so sorry.” 

The fourteen year old catches the guilt flash across his brother’s face. He shrugs his shoulders in response.

“It doesn’t matter. Where’s Vanya?” He questions, ripping the needle from his arm.

“Hey!” Diego shouts, quickly turning away to prevent himself from passing out at the sight of the needle.

“It does matter and we’re going to talk about this when everything’s over, okay?” Diego says, getting up and walking over to the desk.

At no response, Diego turns to his brother and repeats, “Okay?”

“Okay.” Five nods without meaning.

“We don’t know where Vanya is right now. We think she might come back to the house. Allison says she didn’t mean to hurt her.” Diego explains as he rifles through the medical bag on top of the desk.

“Allison can talk?” 

“No, she’s been using a notebook to talk to us.” He answers, pulling a band-aid from the bag.

“She’s going to be devastated when she finds out…” Five whispers.

Diego takes his seat back on the edge of the bed and reaches over to grab Five’s arm. He hums as he gently places the band-aid on the small wound the needle left. He squishes the trash in his hand and shoves it into his pocket.

“When Vanya gets here, I should be the one to talk to her.” Five says, absentmindedly rubbing his finger over the band-aid.

“Abso-fucking-lutely not. She almost killed Allison.” Diego raises his voice in disbelief as he looks at his brother sternly.

“We were close when we were kids.” Five shrugs.

“Five-”

“I know she doesn’t remember, asshole. But I can remind her.” Five says, as sure of himself as ever.

“I just promised you that I would never let someone hurt you again. Come hell or high water, I am keeping that promise, I don’t care if she’s our sister.” Diego assures, lowering his face to make sure Five sees the seriousness in his eyes.

“Diego, if you don’t let me talk to her...I’ll just die anyway and so will all of you. I won’t let everything that’s happened to me be all for nothing.” Five retorts.

“We’ll figure it out when she gets here okay? Right now, you need to come downstairs with me and eat something.”

“I want to see Allison first. I need to know that she’s okay.”

Diego nods, standing. He offers a hand to which Five accepts. He pulls his little brother up and leads him out of his room and down the hall to Allison’s room. They stop outside of the closed door. Diego looks down at his brother who gazes up at him with wide eyes. He sets a hand on Five’s back and knocks on the door. 

“Come in,” Luther’s voice calls out.

Diego rolls his eyes but opens the door anyway. Allison is laying in her bed, her eyes are surrounded by deep, dark circles. She has a thick bandage around her neck. Her eyes lock on Five. She scans him head to toe, stopping at his broken hand. Her eyes tear up and she reaches a hand up to cover her mouth as she cries. 

“She was really worried about you,” Luther says from where he sits in a chair next to Allison’s bed.

Five's eyes widen in surprise. Here his sister is lying in bed with a slashed neck worrying about him and his stupid broken hand.

“We all were.” Diego corrects, hand moving up to his brother’s shoulder to pull him into his side protectively.

“Of course.” Luther agrees. 

Allison rubs her face on her shirt and holds her arms out for Five. Diego drops his arm and Five walks over to the bed. Once close enough, his sister pulls him across the bed and into her arms. She silently cries into his hair, holding him tightly to her chest. She eventually lets him go to pick up her notebook and pen. He settles on the edge of her bed. She quickly scribbles something and holds it up for her little brother to see.

 _What happened?_ The paper reads.

Five glances back at his brother who’s still standing by the door. 

“I found out why none of you remember me…” He says, turning back to look at his sister.

She watches his face for a moment before realization sets in on her own. She mouths a “no.” Her eyes quickly refill with tears.

“What? What’s the reason?” Luther questions.

“Our bastard father forced Allison to rumor us and then rumor herself to forget our brother.” Diego snarls. 

Luther looks back and forth between the three as Allison sobs into her hands.

“He wouldn’t…” Luther says, his voice lacking the usual confidence.

“He killed himself to manipulate us into coming back together. This is right up his alley.” Diego retorts, chuckling without humor.

“But why?” Luther questions.

“He always hated me.” Five mumbles, setting a hand on Allison’s leg as she continues to cry.

“It says everything in his little journal. He’d had enough of us looking for Five. He said it distracted us.” Diego spits, seething.

“He’d always wanted me out of the picture. I never listened to him, I was a liability.” Five continues, shaking his head self deprecatingly.

Allison sets a hand down on top of his small one. She holds her notebook up in her other hand.

_You’re not a liability. You’re our brother._

The corner of his lip lifts as he says, “I want you to know, I don’t blame you. It wasn’t your fault.”

A few more tears roll down her face as she starts to write something again.

_He made me rumor Vanya to believe she was normal._

“But she’s not, is she?” Five asks.

Allison shakes her head, flipping the page to write more.

_I’ve never seen anything like it._

The three brothers look at each other nervously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay imagine being Allison and finding out she was forced to use her powers to erase her brother right after she realizes she was forced to use them against her sister too :(((( also sorry for such short chapters I just like getting stuff out quickly for you guys!!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me attempting to make Luther better and then immediately making him 10 times worse :0 This chapter ended up being one of my faves, so I hope you guys enjoy!!!

Five silently eats the chocolate chip pancakes his brother made him. He feels himself being stared at and looks up to find Klaus, who’s sitting at the end of the kitchen table, watching him like a hawk.

“You got a problem?” Five asks, mouth full with food.

“No problem here, bucko. I just think you look really adorable in that hoodie.” Klaus giggles, knowingly glancing at Diego who’s sitting in the chair next to their little brother.

“What? He was cold in Allison’s room…” Diego explains, rolling his eyes at Klaus.

“Yeah, what’s the big deal?” Five grumbles, picking his fork up with his unbroken hand that’s hidden within the black hoodie.

“No big deal, I just think Diego should remember certain conversations had with certain Klauses in the not so distant past.” Klaus says with his eyebrows raised.

“What conversations?” Five asks curiously.

“Klaus is being an idiot, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Diego answers, grinding his teeth and glaring across the table at his brother.

“Yes, yes that’s all.” Klaus agrees, holding his hands up.

Five rolls his eyes, focusing on his food again. He eats until he can feel his brothers glaring at each other. 

“What the hell?” He questions, dropping his fork loudly.

“I’m just gonna go check to see how our dear sister is doing,” Klaus says, excusing himself.

Five turns to his other brother, eyes squinted.

“Like I said, idiot.” Diego repeats with a shrug. 

Five doesn’t have the energy to argue so he just ignores Diego and goes back to eating. 

“Klaus just doesn’t want me to get attached.” Diego finally says, staring at the spot Klaus had been sitting.

“Attached?” Five asks, setting his fork down again.

“Yeah, uh-you know for when you leave to go back to 2002.” Diego says quickly, staring at Five’s plate.

“Oh.” The fourteen year old whispers, setting his hands down onto his lap.

“About that-” Five starts, looking up at Diego’s face.

“Hey guys, I figured we should probably talk about the plan.” Luther interrupts as he enters the room.

Diego watches his little brother for a moment before tearing his eyes away to look at Luther.

“What plan?” He asks.

“Uh-exactly.” Luther says with a grimace.

“Seriously, Number One? That’s all you’ve got?” Diego laughs, shaking his head.

“Hence why I came to talk to you. You don’t have to be such a dick, Diego.” Luther huffs, walking towards his brothers.

“Whatever.” Diego mumbles.

Luther sighs, pulling out a seat at the table and sitting down.

“I think Vanya will be back, I just don’t know when. So I think it’ll be best if we work in shifts, one of us staying up at all times between me, you, and Klaus. Five and Allison need their rest.”

“I’m fine,” Five argues.

“You do need your rest.” Diego says, agreeing with Luther for probably the first time in his life.

Five rolls his eyes, reaching his hand up to grab his glass of water. 

“I don’t know what we’re going to do when she gets here…”

“Great.” Diego grimaces.

“Well, tell Klaus he’s first watch. I’m going to sleep, I’ve been up for a very long time.” He says with a yawn, reaching over to squeeze his little brother’s arm.

“Let me know if you need anything.” Diego whispers, smiling at his brother before getting up and leaving the room.

Five picks up his glass again and slowly sips at it, watching Luther over the rim.

“Uh-Five?”

“Yeah?” The fourteen year old asks, setting his glass down and wiping at his mouth with his sleeve.

“I’m sorry for assuming things the other night. You don’t deserve what happened to you.” Luther admits sheepishly.

“Thanks, Luther.” Five mumbles.

He gets up from the table, taking his empty plate to the sink. He sets it down and then quickly leaves the room. He doesn’t feel like spending more time with Luther than is absolutely necessary. He walks in his socks throughout the house, finding himself drawn to his father’s office. He steps into the room, his father’s painting stares down at him. He feels inferior, like he always did under his father’s gaze. He heads over to the open floorboards. He finds his book on top of the pile in the safe, where Grace had picked it up before. He bends down, fingers reaching out from his hoodie to grab the book. He pulls it up and holds it to his chest. He sighs before allowing the familiar feeling of time and space to cloak him as he jumps upstairs. He finds himself landing into Diego’s room instead of his own. After everything, he can’t bear to be in his own room right now. Diego’s snoring softly, fast asleep in his bed. He’s actually wearing normal clothes for once, a t-shirt and shorts, instead of his usual vigilante getup. Five takes a seat on the cold floor at the end of Diego’s bed. He opens Vanya’s book to page one and begins to read his equations.

He stays there for hours, flicking through pages, eyes scanning from side to side. Finally, he catches the mistake on page 57.

“That fucking bastard,” He whispers, eyes focused on the 3 in his equation that had been changed to an 8. 

_No wonder I ended up in the wrong year. That asshole had been changing my numbers._ He thinks, face twisting in anger. With his good hand, he grabs Diego’s bedpost and pulls himself up. He watches his brother’s sleepy face as he tiptoes to his desk. He rifles through the drawer until he finds a halfway empty notebook and a pencil. He takes his seat back at the edge of Diego’s bed and starts to redo his equations. He works for hours, until the natural light in Diego’s room fades and it becomes too dark for him to work any longer. Rather than moving to somewhere with light, he curls on the floor around his notes and falls asleep.

* * *

He wakes up in Diego’s bed, blankets pulled up to his neck. The bright sunlight forces him to squint as he reaches up with his sleeves to rub at his tired eyes.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” He hears Diego say softly from the floor.

He pushes himself up to look over at his brother who’s going through his notes on the floor.

“What are you doing?” He croaks, watching Diego flip the page.

“Whoever your real mom is, she must have been smart as fuck.” Diego whispers, whistling at the equations on the paper.

Five shrugs, getting out of the bed to stretch.

“Any breakthroughs?” Diego asks, looking up at his little brother.

“Yeah, just a few more lines to go.” Five answers, dropping down to the floor next to his brother.

He pulls the paper from Diego’s hand who reaches up to fix his fluffy hair. Five bats his hand at his brother and pretends to try to bite him.

“Sheesh, you little monster.” Diego laughs.

“I’m gonna go down to get coffee and tell Klaus he can sleep, you want some?” 

“Yes, please.” Five begs, face innocent.

Diego chuckles, getting up from the floor. He heads out of the room, flicking on the light and closing the door behind himself. Five quickly turns back to his notes.

“Just a few more lines,” He whispers to himself, pencil in his mouth as he considers the last equation he wrote. 

A few more lines ends up turning into a few pages which ends up turning into multiple pages. The coffee Diego had brought him hours ago turns cold as he works. He writes furiously, feeling himself getting closer and closer to the answer. Finally, it’s there, the answer to all of his problems, circled in the middle of the page. It’s the 31st, only a day before the apocalypse, and he finally has the chance to start all over again. And yet, he doesn’t feel relief. He feels his stomach churn at the numbers.

He hears the door open and quickly flips the page to the last one he had been working on.

“Any luck?” Diego asks.

“Uh, no, but I think I’m getting close.” Five says with a wide smile.

Diego blinks at it in suspicion, but doesn’t say anything.

“Well, I’m gonna lay back down. Luther’s on watch now so I figured I might as well get as much sleep as I can before apocalypse comes knocking on the door.”

Five’s heart beats so loud in his chest, he barely registers his brother’s voice. He watches silently as Diego lays back down. Even after his brother’s eyes shut, he feels his chest vibrating in panic. He swallows, shutting the notebook closed and pushing it under Diego’s bed. He gets up with his cold cup of coffee and heads downstairs intent on scoring a warmer cup. He shakily sets his cup in the microwave and closes the door. He forces his mind to focus on the cup as it slowly rotates. He blinks when he hears voices upstairs. It sounds like Luther is talking to someone. 

_Klaus? No, he’s supposed to be sleeping…_

The voice is too low to hear but curiosity has him leaving the beeping microwave behind to head upstairs. He finds Luther in the foyer with Vanya in his arms.

“What happened?” Five asks, jumping closer to Luther.

“Uh-I don’t know. She passed out? I’m gonna take her to her room.” 

“Is she okay?” Five asks, trying to peek at his sister’s face.

Luther twists her away from him, saying, “She’s fine. Just go back to what you were doing and I’ll take her to her room.”

Five backs away a few steps, watching Luther in suspicion. His brother pointedly ignores him and starts to head in a direction that is definitely not upstairs. 

“Where are you going?” Five questions, jumping in front of his brother.

“Back off, Five,” Luther warns, stepping around his little brother and continuing down the hall. 

Five follows him silently as he heads to the elevator. Five immediately knows where Luther is heading. He jumps into the basement, waiting in front of the elevator for Luther. The doors open with a hiss and Luther looks surprised at seeing Five standing there waiting for him.

“What are you doing?” Luther hisses, fixing his hold on Vanya.

“You’re not putting her in there.” Five says, holding his ground as Luther steps up towards him.

“Yes, I am, it’s what’s best for all of us.” Luther bodily shoves his little brother out of the way.

“She hates this place!” Five shouts, trailing after his brother.

“I don’t care.” Luther says, stepping into the soundproof room.

He sets Vanya down on the bed. With a flash, Five appears at the end of her bed.

“Get out,” Luther growls, reaching for his brother.

Five jumps to the other side of the room out of his reach.

“If you’re going to force her to be in here, I’m staying with her,” He says, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Do not push me, Five.” Luther growls, stomping towards his brother.

“Or what?” Five taunts, jumping again back to the end of Vanya’s bed.

Luther reaches into his pocket and Five’s eyes widen in surprise.

“I guess you read the journal too, huh?” Five whispers, nervously watching the device Luther holds in his hand.

“It’s what’s best for all of us. Either I use this now or I find your dead body in here later and have to deal with Diego.”

Luther advances on Five again who finds himself too horrified to move. His feet are planted in the ground.

“No, Luther, please.” He begs, finally finding the ability to move.

He backs up until he hits the wall.

Suddenly, a notebook hits Luther in the head. He whirls away from Five to find an enraged Allison watching him. 

“Allison I-”

Five takes the moment’s hesitation to jump out of the room and back into Diego’s. He falls to the ground and whimpers when he hits his broken hand. Diego immediately jumps awake at the sound. He looks down at Five who’s shuddering on the floor.

“What’s wrong?” His voice rasps, as he drops to the floor next to his brother. 

“Luther has Vanya.” Five responds, looking at his brother with a fire in his eyes.


	16. Chapter 16

Diego wakes up Klaus who squawks in annoyance until he sees the look on Diego’s face and then the look on Five’s who’s standing to the side. He rips the headphones off of his head and raises his eyebrows in a silent question.

“Our brother is locking up our sister right now like she’s a rabid dog. And he fucking threatened Five. With a taser no less. If you don’t come with me right now, I might end up murdering him.”

“A taser? Where did he get a-” At Diego’s face, Klaus’ mouth forms an ‘o’.

“That’s messed up!” Klaus shouts, voice shrill as he rolls out of bed.

He slips on his pink, fluffy slippers and then rifles through a pile of clothes on the floor.

“Especially considering I let the bastard read Dad’s journal yesterday. He knows our dick of a father used that shit to threaten Five too.”

“Diego calm down, I’m sure he just had the taser in case something happened with Vanya.” Five says, attempting to placate his furious brother.

“I don’t give a fuck why he had it, he threatened you with it, knowing the kind of shit you’ve been through. You were attacked with a taser TWO days ago!” Diego shouts, angrily pacing the floor.

Klaus yells “Aha!” as he finally pulls out the shirt he had been looking for. He pulls it on over his chest.

“Okay let’s go get Luther!” Klaus cheers, holding his fist in the air as he heads out of the room.

Five sighs, following his two older brothers out of the room.  _ I have a feeling this is not going to go the way I want it to.  _ He thinks as they head to the end of the hall where the elevator is. They stand in the elevator quietly, Diego’s silent rage not inviting conversation. The elevator dings as it stops in the basement. Stepping out of the door they find Allison slapping Luther’s chest who’s guarding the panic room door. 

“What the fuck is going on down here?” Diego growls, stalking over to his brother and sister.

“If one of you would just let me explain…”

“Oh, I’m sorry, were you going to explain before or after you electrocuted our little brother?” Diego questions, puffing out his chest as he stands in front of Luther.

Allison quickly steps away to the side to let Diego say his piece.

“Seriously, Five?” Luther says, glancing behind Diego at his little brother.

“Don’t talk to him like that, you dick.” Diego snarls, shoving his face in his brother’s.

“Sorry, I forgot he needs his daddy to fight his battles.” Luther mocks.

“He’s fourteen, Luther. Fourteen! You’re a thirty year old man attacking a child. You’re just like Dad.” Diego hisses, jabbing Luther in the chest with his finger.

“Shut the hell up. I’m tired of your shit, Diego. He’s been here for like a week and look at the way you treat him compared to the rest of us. Your siblings who you grew up with, who you’ve known your entire life! You pushed us all away but as soon as some kid comes along you’ve decided you have a heart.” Luther snarls, face twisted in indignation.

Klaus can feel the tension in the room and quickly pulls Five back away and next to Allison who’s watching the scene unfold with wide eyes.

“Really? You want to go there, Luther? I didn’t push all of our siblings away, I pushed you away!” Diego shouts, shoving Luther who doesn’t move an inch.

“You guys stop!” Klaus yells, stepping up in front of Allison and Five.

“No, go ahead, Diego, say your piece.” Luther says, puffing up his chest to tower above his brother.

Diego glances at Five who’s looking at him with worry in his eyes. The anger dissipates and his shoulders drop in exhaustion.

“I just want us all to survive, which means we need to let our sister out of that cage and let her talk to us like the human being she is.” He says softly, no heat left in his voice.

Luther drops his shoulders in response and takes a deep breath.

“You all need to trust me.”

Diego stares into the window on the door behind Luther. Vanya is waking in the bed. She’s rubbing her head and blinking sluggishly around the room. Her face quickly turns to one of horror.

“I’m sorry, Luther, I don’t.” Diego whispers, turning to his little brother to motion towards the room.

“Klaus, grab him!” Luther shouts, but it’s in vain as Five has already jumped into the room with Vanya.

“Now you’re going to have to either open the door or let Five talk to our sister.” Diego says with a smirk, stepping around Luther to look in the room.

Luther moves to step back in front of the latch and hisses, “If he dies, it’s on you.”

“I think if we just let her out to explain, this could all be fixed,” Klaus explains softly.

Allison nods at him but Luther steadily ignores them, holding his position in front of the door.

* * *

“Hi, Vanya,” Five greets as he lands in the room. 

“Five?” She croaks.

“Yep, it’s me.” He answers, taking a seat next to Vanya on her bed.

“What’s going on? Why am I in here?” Vanya questions, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Luther’s just being an idiot as per usual, that’s all.” Five whispers, setting a comforting hand on his sister’s leg. 

“I don’t want to be in here.” Vanya mumbles curling into herself.

“I know you don’t.” Five nods.

He holds his hand out for her take. She looks at it hesitantly for a moment before grabbing it. With a burst, they disappear from the room.

They reappear on the roof. The sky is darkening as Five leads his sister over to the edge of the building. There’s two small chairs sitting there waiting for them.

“I know you don’t remember, but I used to jump us up here a lot as kids. We’d just sit here for hours at night, talking about the universe and how insignificant we felt, despite what Luther believed.” Five laughs, dropping Vanya’s hand to sit in one of the chairs.

His sister follows his lead and takes a seat in the other chair.

“I’m sorry, Five, about everything…” She says resting a hand on his arm.

“Allison knows it wasn’t your fault, she doesn’t blame you and neither do I.”

“No...I-I feel terrible about Allison and I need to talk to her but I’m talking about what Dad did.” Vanya corrects nervously.

“Oh...how’d you know?” Five asks, brow lifting in interest.

“I-uh-found his journal in Leonard...or Harold’s...bag.”

“Ah,” Five says with a small nod.

“He’s still out there,” Vanya suddenly remembers, quickly standing from her chair.

“He killed people!” She says, panicked.

“Vanya…” Five starts with a sigh.

His sister’s eyes scan his face.

“He...uh he attacked me and I-” Five looks away, rubbing his arm.

Vanya’s eyes catch on her little brother’s bandaged hand.

“You did what you had to do.” She finishes for him, sitting back down in the chair.

“I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault, I was being naive, thinking someone would actually want me for me.” She puts her face in her hands.

“Vanya, I like you for you, I always have,” Five says, gently pulling Vanya’s hands away from her face.

“You used to be my favorite sibling.” He whispers as if to keep the wind from informing the rest of his siblings.

“Diego’s surpassed me now, huh? Am I going to have to fight for you?” She jokes with a small giggle.

“You’re still a close second,” He says with a wink.

His face draws serious as he looks up at the night sky. His eyes flick between stars and Vanya does the same next to him. They sit in comfortable silence for a while, watching the stars together.

“You know, we’re a lot alike,” Five suddenly says, turning his head to look at his sister.

“Yeah? How’s that?” She asks, peeling herself from the beautiful sky to face her little brother.

“No one can see us for who we are, or who we were because our selfish father forced Allison to rumor us away. I mean mine was a little more literal but you know what I mean.” He says with a wave of his hand.

“I do,” Vanya assures with a nod.

“The moon is beautiful tonight.” Five whispers, gazing back up at the twinkling sky.

“It is.” Vanya agrees, reaching over to interlock her arm with her brother’s.

A smile twitches at the corner of Five’s lips as he glances over at his sister’s eyes. They reflect the moon.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are so freaking sweet with all of your comments saying you trust me!!! My heart could not be happier!! You guys are so awesome!! 
> 
> ...I hope you don’t regret saying that.....................
> 
> I've placed a warning that contains spoilers in the end note.

Five jolts awake with the sound of a door shutting. He feels a solid weight on his shoulder and blinks down to find Vanya resting her head against him, fast asleep. He feels goosebumps rise as the cold evening air brushes against his skin beneath Diego's hoodie. At the sound of footsteps, he gently maneuvers his sister’s head to rest against the back of her chair and he slowly gets up. He can feel soreness radiate throughout his body as it yells at him for falling asleep in a crappy old beach chair. He shakes it off and turns to face who he suspects are his siblings. His suspicion proves true. Klaus’s face is squished between his hands in adoration at the sight of his sleepy siblings. Allison looks relieved...and extremely tired. Diego’s eyes are wild as if he expected to walk into a bloodbath. And Luther...he looks surprisingly guilty.

“Got room for four more?” Klaus whispers.

“I’m sure we can figure something out,” Five answers with a soft smile. 

His siblings all walk closer to the edge to take a look at Vanya who’s still fast asleep. Diego glances at his sister and then back up to his little brother. He steps over to Five and pulls him into a hug. He kisses his hair and whispers, “I’m proud of you.”

Five hugs Diego tighter. He’d been waiting to hear those words his entire life.

“Guys?” He hears Vanya mumble sleepily. 

Diego lets his brother go, placing an arm across his shoulders instead.

“Vanny!” Klaus shouts, jumping into his sister’s lap and hugging her.

Vanya hugs him back, but her eyes are firmly planted on Allison’s bandaged neck. When Klaus finally pulls away, Vanya quickly stands.

“Allison, I’m so-”

Allison cuts her off by pulling her into a hug. She shakes her head as they both cry on each other’s shoulders. Allison lets her go to hold up a paper that says “I love you.” Vanya laughs tearfully and returns the sentiment quickly. She glances at Diego who smiles softly at her and ruffles Five’s hair. She forces herself to turn to look at Luther who’s diligently looking away.

“Luther…” She starts, taking a deep breath.

“Vanya, I’m so sorry.” Luther begins, looking at Vanya with tearful eyes.

“I should have let you explain, I shouldn’t have put you in that room. I shouldn’t have threatened you either, Five. I’m sorry I’ve been such a shitty brother lately, I guess I am just like Dad. I don’t know how to be something other than just a ‘teammate.’”

“I think we’re all a work in progress.” Klaus says carefully.

Five nods and says, “We’re all messed up, but at least we’re all in it together now, right?”

His siblings all nod at him.

“What would you all say to a sleepover?!” Klaus suggests excitedly.

“But inside cause Ben and I are cold…” He adds, loudly shivering for effect.

“Sounds good, brother.” Diego says lightly, rubbing his hand up and down his shivering little brother’s shoulder.

The rest of the siblings make sounds of affirmation and they all head to the staircase, Allison and Vanya walking arm and arm.

Downstairs in the living room, Luther easily pushes the coffee table away from being in between the two couches. Vanya and Allison bring down armfuls of blankets. Diego, Five, and Klaus go upstairs to change into their night clothes. 

“This looks amazing!” Klaus says, belly flopping down into the cocoon of blankets. 

They’re all dressed in their comfiest clothes as they pick their spots. Allison and Vanya decide to share a couch, one they’ve covered with Allison’s comforter. Luther takes the opposite couch, too hot to lay on anything other than a sheet. Klaus cuddles up closest to Luther’s couch, leaving a spot in between them for Ben. Diego lays next to him and Five next to Diego. They all cuddle into their blankets as a cacophony of yawns ring throughout the room. 

They all sit up when they hear Grace’s audible “aw” at the sight of them all.

“Would you guys like some cookies?” She asks, red lips forming a bright smile.

“Boy, would I!” Klaus yells, as he stretches.

“Alright…” Diego huffs, when his brother’s arm smacks him in the face.

“Uh-Five, dear, would you mind helping me?” 

Five glances warily at his siblings, but ends up saying, “Sure.”

He pushes himself up off of the floor and pads behind Grace to the kitchen.

She walks into the room only stopping once she reaches the counter. She sets her hands on the edge and stares at the wooden cabinet. Five watches as her back rattles with a deep breath. She turns to him, looking more human than he thought possible, tears tracking down her face.

“I have to apologize to you, sweetie. I haven’t been a good mother to you.” She says, lips forming a deep frown.

“I know it wasn’t your fault.” Five answers gently.

“How can you say such a thing? I’ve been keeping things from you. How can you forgive so easily?” Grace asks, eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

“There’s one person that deserves that blame and he’s dead. Frankly, I’m too tired to be angry.” He answers with a shrug.

“I know you’ve never felt like I was a real mom to you, but you should know that when I saw you again, the night your father died, I couldn’t have been more relieved.”

Five smiles softly at that. 

“Let’s make those cookies.” He says, heading to the fridge.

* * *

Five wakes mid afternoon with a crick in his neck. His siblings are all still fast asleep, Luther snoring like a motorboat. Five rolls his eyes at that and peels Diego’s arm off his chest. He rolls to the side to glance at Vanya, she looks peaceful. His lip twitches at that and he pushes himself up from the ground. He groans, stretching his neck. When that doesn’t relieve his pain, he massages it with his unbroken hand.

He heads to the kitchen, intent on drinking an entire pot of coffee. He finds a full pot on the table, still warm, with a little note next to it.

_All yours, dear. <3 _

_-Mom_

He feels warmth spread across his face. She even set a cup out for him at his old seat. He wills himself to not cry as he gingerly sets himself in the chair. His thoughts bounce around his head, dark tendrils reaching out for him, begging him to think about the things he doesn’t want to. He forces himself to focus on the coffee as he downs three cups. 

Feeling sufficiently jittery, he jumps upstairs into his room. He quickly walks across the floor, intently ignoring the _spot._ He changes faster than he'd ever changed in his entire life and throws Diego's hoodie back on, over his uniform. He reaches under his bed, collecting his duffel and picks up Dolores with a soft greeting. After settling her into the bag, he spatial jumps outside to the alley. As he walks down the sidewalk, he thanks Dolores for sticking it out with him, for always trying to protect him, for being there when he was at his lowest. He feels himself getting excited at the thought of her returning to her friends. She must miss them dearly. She doesn’t seem willing to talk to him, although she’d never really been one to express vulnerability with her own emotions. 

He steps into Gimble’s, cold air hitting his face. He’s brought back to when it all started. When Diego found him cowering under a desk. It truly was a miracle that Diego just so happened to be there and be the one to find him. He treads through the store, his eyes roaming across the shelves. Gimble’s looks back to normal, as if he hadn’t narrowly escaped a shoot out last time he was here. He comes to a stop in front of a group of mannequins. He pulls his bag over his shoulder and unzips it. He picks Dolores up and sets her down on the empty pedestal. 

“There you go, back with all your friends.” He says with a smile that comes out more queasy than he intended.

“God, Dolores...I know you’re going to be happier here but uh I...I’m really going to miss you.” 

He zips his bag back up and fixes it across his shoulder. He looks at Dolores one last time with the most loving gaze he can handle and then turns away. As he heads out of the store, he stops a store attendant to ask her to change Dolores’s clothes. She stares at him with a look of incredulity. He can’t find it in himself to care. Things are going well. He feels closer to his siblings than he ever had, he feels understood. He feels like he can finally put the apocalypse behind himself for once and for all. He wonders if Diego remembers his promise. The one he’d given him one of the first days back in the house, that he’d let Five stay with him if he proved himself. Five would prefer to leave his childhood home behind too, the amount of terrible memories etched into the walls makes him feel exhausted. He considers this as he jumps back into his room. He tosses his bag to the floor and jumps downstairs to the living room.

The room’s back to its original state. Blankets gone and coffee table back in the center between the couches. Diego’s sitting on one of them, drinking from a cup of coffee.

He flinches when Five lands in the room.

“Sheesh, way to scare the living shit out of me!” 

“Sorry.” Five says with a shrug, spatial jumping again to the couch.

Diego flinches again, almost splashing coffee on himself. He fixes Five with an annoyed glare.

“Whatcha doing?” Five asks, rubbing his head on Diego’s arm like a cat.

Diego shoves his little brother’s head away and says, “I was waiting to make sure you weren't kidnapped. The others went out for lunch... or dinner? Brinner?”

“Oh, uh, sorry. I thought I’d be back before you all woke…” Five explains with a guilty expression painted on his face.

“It’s okay,” Diego says with a shrug, his eyes contradicting his nonchalance.

“I can leave notes from now on.” Five promises, looking up at his brother with wide eyes.

“Fine, but stop with the puppy dog look.” Diego says with a roll of his eyes.

Five shrugs and snuggles up into his brother’s shoulder.

“Uh, Five?”

“Huh?” Five asks, hugging his brother’s arm.

“I found your notebook last night...there was an equation circled.” Diego says carefully.

Five pulls away to scan his brother’s face. Diego’s staring down into his coffee.

“Uh...yeah I finished my calculations. But Diego I-”

“When are you going back?” Diego asks, cutting him off.

“Well I…” Five starts, setting his hands down in his lap.

Diego finally turns his attention to his little brother, eyes searching for an answer in Five’s frown.

“I think I want to stay. Here. With you…” Five whispers, curling into himself protectively.

“Five…” Diego says slowly.

Five curls further into himself and mumbles, “You don’t want me.”

“No, no, that is not true. I didn’t say that.” Diego corrects, setting his coffee cup down and moving to crouch on the floor in front of his brother. 

“I just...you won’t be happy here. I mean, none of us remember your childhood…”

Five stares intently down at his broken hand as he says, “I don’t care.”

“Hey, please look at me.” Diego requests, setting a hand on his brother’s knee.

Five glances at his brother through his bangs.

“You said it yourself that you spent a year dying trying to get back to us, the us from 2002.”

“The you from 2002 wanted nothing to do with me.” Five whines, looking away from Diego and back down at his bandages.

“What about that memory of us? The one about training?” Diego asks softly.

“That was the only good memory I could think of, you not wanting to kill me.” The fourteen year old laughs without humor.

“What about Ben?” Diego finally asks.

At Five’s face he quickly backpedals, “I know it’s a low blow, but I don’t want you to regret not going back and feel like you're just staying here because you owe me or something.”

“I don't feel like I owe you. Besides, Ben’s still here…” Five says, but even he can feel how silly the argument is. Of course Ben would prefer to be alive. 

“I don’t want you to go back either, Five. I hate the idea of you going back to Dad, but I just…” Diego trails off, his face transforming into one of deep thought.

“I have an idea…” He says, eyes focusing back on Five’s.

His little brother perks up at that.

“What if you and I go into the past, get Ben, and then come back?” 

Five scoffs.

“Diego…” He starts.

His mouth closes as his head tilts in consideration.

“That could...actually work. Although last time, I tried to travel to the future, I botched it. But then again if I know when specifically I’m going to, I might be able to pull it off. But I also don't know what would happen if you went to the same time period as another version of-”

Five’s monologue is cut off by the sound of heels on the floor. Both brothers turn their heads to find a tall woman in red heels standing in the doorway.

Five gasps in horror, eyes catching on the wound on the woman’s forehead.

“Ah, yes, that's where you shot me. It’s very hard to cover up and I was in a coma for months so thank you for that.” The Handler says sarcastically, stepping further into the room.

Five and Diego both quickly stand.

“What the hell is she talking about, Five?” Diego hisses, pushing his younger brother behind him.

“Back at the hotel, she paid me a visit...” Five explains to Diego who’s face remains just as twisted in confusion.

“Paid you a visit?” The Handler tuts.

“I offered your brother a job and he shot me.” She corrects, addressing Diego.

“For good reason, I'm sure.” Diego mumbles, stealthily reaching into his pocket for his knife.

“I should have left you frozen again.” The Handler grumbles with a roll of her eyes as she places her hands on her hips.

“Why are you here?” Five croaks, throat suddenly dry.

“I’m here to offer you one final chance to come work for us.”

“After everything you’ve done to me? Are you joking?” Five questions, stepping around Diego to stand next to him.

“Oh, honey, I know you’re upset about what happened in the apocalypse, but I didn’t tell Theo to do that you know. He went rogue. He was just supposed to collect information and once he had enough I gave him the kill order on you. I guess he decided to have a little fun first.” She says with a giggle.

“You think that’s funny, you sick bastard?!” Diego snarls.

Her face suddenly drops into feigned surprise.

“No, no, of course not, we take stuff like that _very_ seriously back at the Commission.” She says with a wink.

Diego starts towards her, but Five quickly grabs his shirt, pulling his back.

“Get this through your thick skull, I will never work for you.” Five says slowly as if addressing a child.

“Shame.” 

The Handler raises a pistol. Five immediately grabs Diego’s arm. They jump as a shot rings out. They land in Diego’s room.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do, I could jump us somewhere else, but I think she’s just going to keep coming.” Five says as he erratically paces the floor.

Something thumps loudly to the ground. Five turns to find Diego lying on his back, a hole in his head. His eyes are wide, he’s not breathing. Five’s heart drops to his stomach as a grief filled noise rips up and out of his throat. He falls to the floor, scrabbling at Diego’s shirt.

“No, no, no. Diego, no. Not you.” He sobs, shaking his brother.

The Diego he found in the apocalypse flashes through his mind. He turns away from his brother and retches. His throat burns as he sobs through his heaving. His blurry vision catches on something under Diego’s bed. He wipes his mouth with the back of his sleeve. He looks back at his brother. He pulls Diego up into his arms, hugging him tightly to his chest as Diego's head lulls into his shoulder, warm blood from his open mouth soaking into Five's stolen hoodie. He hears heels on the hardwood floor outside the door. 

“It’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay.” He repeats like a mantra as he gently sets his brother back down. 

He crawls to the bed, reaches under and pulls the notebook out. Blood stains the pages as he flips through them with ferocity. His hands shake on the last page as he repeats the equation in his head. He can hear the handle turn. With one last look at Diego, his dead body seared into his mind, he tightens his fists and pulls.

* * *

He lands face first on the concrete floor of the Umbrella Academy training room.

“Five?! You asshole, you scared the shit out of us when you ran away this morning.”

At the familiar voice above him, Five slowly pushes his aching body up. He cradles his bandaged hand to his chest. He can feel blood flowing from his nose freely. He twitches it and it flares with pain.

“Diego…you’re alive.” He chokes out, words catching on a sob.

“You’re bleeding. What happened? Did you time travel?” Diego questions, staring down at his brother.

Five stands on shaky legs and pulls Diego into his arms. He hugs his now thirteen year old brother tightly as Diego’s arms lay still at his sides. Diego finally reaches up, but instead of hugging him back he pushes him away.

“What the hell, Five? What’s going on with you?” Diego demands. His words are sharp but his eyes are red and puffy as if he had been crying.

 _Was he actually worried about me?_ Five wonders, trying to force himself past the hurt of Diego pushing him away.

Heels click onto the cement floor. 

Five’s heart skips a beat.

Diego goes still. Not still like he’s watching a horror movie that's finally gotten to the good part, but still like that of a man who foolishly peered into the eyes of Medusa herself. Unblinking, not breathing. 

The sound of heels against the floor rattles throughout Five’s brain as his heart beats wildly in his chest. 

He slowly turns, eyes wide in horror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Temporary Main Character Death
> 
> .......I just wanna say I'm sorry because YIKES. If it makes you feel any better this chapter was legit torture to write, I did not want to do this to y'all (or Five and Diego) but the evil part of my brain has been planning this ending for a while. I know one of you said any ending as long as it didn't contain a main character death, so youngfriesoftreachery, I'm sorry for betraying you. This is a [temporary ] main character death so plsssss don't hate me. That being said, as I mentioned in the beginning note, I have hopes to continue this story and already have some decent ideas in my head of how to do that so do not feel like I'm leaving you all on this terrible note for forever. Luv u guys and thank you so much for reading!! I hope, despite the pain, it was still an enjoyable read for you! <3


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